The southern African countries of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Angola are the abode of Hoodia gordonii. The San Bushmen who inhabits the Kalahari Desert had through generations transmitted their knowledge of the various uses of Hoodia. Of these uses, its use as an appetite suppressant was known to the outside world for some time. The San people used it to suppress their hunger during hunting expeditions that lasted a few days. The Hoodia extract was subject to scientific investigation by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who patented the extract as P57 in 1997. CSIR sold the exclusive right to its use to Phytopharm, a British pharmaceutical company. Phytopharm granted the license to production to Pfizer. But Hoodia became a craze as a weight loss product much later when BBC reported on its use in 2003 and 60 Minutes in the next year.
Hoodia became popular as a natural drug for weight loss. When the product became a celebrity of sorts, the San Bushmen, whose knowledge it was, was not remembered. Media accused Phytopharm of having pirated the knowledge of San without their consent and ignored their right to the benefits that are accrued from the sales of Hoodia products. Phytopharm confronted this saying that the San people no longer exist quite contrary to the fact that the San people continued to inhabit the Kalahari Desert. Very soon CSIR acknowledged the San as the source of the knowledge on Hoodia and decided to share the royalty with them in 2003. However, it is estimated that the share of the San people is a mere 0.003 percent of retail price. Pfizer later returned its P57 rights to Phytopharm who then licensed the same to Unilever in 2004. Unilever, who also produced diet foods as Slim Fast, announced that they intended to bring out functional food products with Hoodia.
A number of companies too launched Hoodia products in the wake of its popularity. They claimed that their products contained genuine Hoodia sourced from Africa. These products were introduced in the market in such brand names as Hoodia Pure, Dex-L10 Hoodia, HoodiThin Liquid, Hoodia Extract, H57 Hoodia, Tru Hoodia Diet, Hoodia Shake, Hoodia Gordonii Shake Mix, Hoodia SlimQuick, Hoodoba, Hoodia Supreme and Desert Burn. Hoodia though the main ingredient were combined with a few other useful items in most of these products. For instance, calcium, Green Tea and Vitamin D3 along with Hoodia [of Slimquick with Hoodia, of Slimquick Hoodia] is targeted to women as a weight loss diet.
Two additional patents have since been acquired by Phytopharm fro treating gastric disorders. A number of patents have also been filed subsequently. Hoodia, it has been discovered, could be useful for treating a number of other disorders like sexual dysfunction, and the operation of glands such as the prostrate, saliva and sweat glands.
Tags: Diet, dieting, diets, fat loss, health, hoodia, Hoodia Gordonii, loosing weight, lose weight, obesity, weight control, Weight Loss, weightloss
