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Hoodia swept the nation by storm when Leslie Stahl and her crew traveled to South Africa to determine whether a little succulent plant could actually suppress appetite for days at a time, with virtually no side effects. Leslie tried it personally. She stated she experienced absolutely no hunger the entire day, nor any thirst. Furthermore, she did not have the jitters the following day, and did not experience any unpleasant side-effects that are so common with today's diet pills.
Ms. Stahl was following the lead on a story that first reached Europe in 1937, when a Dutch anthropologist observed the San Bushmen eating the leaves of this cactus-like plant before embarking upon a hunting trek. For two days these Bushmen traveled over a hot and pitiless desert, without the aid of food or water. For nearly thirty years, little interest, if any, was shown in the tiny plant. During that era, pharmaceutical companies were busy creating potent drugs in chemical labs, that had very little to do with organic chemistry.
In 1963, scientists began re-examining Hoodia and by 1995 had isolated what they consider the active component, P-57. P-57 is said to be a steroidal glucose that attaches itself to that portion of the brain that controls hunger. The mechanics of how it suppresses appetite are still unknown. I spite of the fact that the pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, (the original company attempting to develop a Hoodia diet drug), sub-licensed its research and development rights to Pfizer in 1998, no diet drugs were produced. In fact, Pfizer eventually lost interest and reassigned its rights back to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever on the project.
It will be interesting to see where all this leads. Hoodia is a protected species in South Africa and, since it takes five years to mature, is not likely to become an agricultural export. However, there are many in the field of herbology who would like to encourage South Africa to do just that. Herbologists think that isolating a single component from a plant and expecting it to proffer sustainable benefits would be like asking a human body to live on water alone. The synergistic properties of Hoodia offer the bushmen freedom from hunger and increased stamina, to ensure a successful hunt.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has created such a high demand for the product that purchasing Hoodia-based products that are genuine is not an easy task. Every single web page offering Hoodia claimed that its product was the genuine article. Logically, a product in such high demand, carries with it the opportunity to provide much-needed income for South Africans. Actually, cultivating a plant with an extended mature date is not unheard of. Aloe Vera requires seven years growth before the juice is suitable as an ingestible juice or a burn aid product. Aloe Vera, by the way, is another plant whose properties have been un-replicable in the laboratory.