A Newly Understood Herbal Remedy For Obesity

For about 15 years, "experts" have been telling the world that the claims that hoodia can facilitate weight loss are just a lot of hooey. Used by Kalahari Bush People to control appetite when food is scarce, this herb from Namibia was widely promoted as a weight loss wonder without any clinical testing and without even any kind of systematic observation of its benefits and risks. For that reason, many evidence-based natural health experts have been understandably skeptical of hoodia as a weight loss aid. A group of Chinese scientists associated with the National Center for Drug Screening in Shanghai, however, now has an explanation of how this remarkable weight loss herb really works.

What Is Hoodia?

Hoodia is a plant in the family Asclepiadoideae, which is best known for the milkweeds. Although hoodia is in the same family as milkweeds, it looks more like a cactus. It grows up to a meter (3 feet) high, and has large, tan, smelly flowers. The plant grows in the rocky Namib Desert, which extends from central Namibia to southern Angola. Botanists first identified the plant in 1844.

It was only at the end of the twentieth century, however, that the outside world became aware of the use of the plant in appetite control. The San bush people use the root of the a particular species of hoodia, Hoodia gordonii, to keep their hunger under control when they have to track food animals for days across the desert and then bring the kill back to their villages. In the early 2000's, hoodia root became a diet craze and the plant was threatened with extinction until Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and stepped in not only to protect the plant but also to make sure than the San people were properly credited, and paid, for their traditional knowledge that made the use of the plant possible.

A Major Marketing Bust

At the height of the hoodia craze, European home products giant Unilever announced plans to include sustainably produced hoodia root in a tremendous variety of diet products for sale in the European Union and North America. The problem was, no scientific investigation of the herb had been conducted. Unilever sank £20 million into product development without successful clinical studies to verify that the herb was safe and effective for weight loss, and abruptly withdrew plans to market the plant. European and American researchers had investigated a plant chemical from hoodia known as P57, but failed to find any mechanism through which P57 would affect appetite control. The hoodia craze was over, and the plant became largely forgotten even among natural health fans.

READ What Are the 6 Things All Hoodia Reviews Need to Have?

Chinese Investigators Take a Closer Look at Hoodia

When the Chinese government began to encourage investments in Africa, however, scientific investigators decided to take a second look at the herb. They focused on another chemical component of the plant, Gordonoside F, which they were also able to synthesize in the lab. It turned out that this plant chemical goes a long way toward explaining how hoodia helps dieters control their appetites.

How Hoodia Can Still Work For Weight Loss

Gordonoside F interacts with a little-known cell receptor known as G protein-coupled receptor 119, or GPR119. This cell receptor is found in the pancreas and intestines. It ordinarily responds to endocannabinoids, the chemicals that are made by the human body and also found in marijuana. (There actually are weight-loss inducing compounds in some African strains of marijuana, although hoodia contains none of the legally restricted chemicals found in marijuana.) The researchers found that when GPR119 receptors are activated by the compound in hoodia, the lining of the intestines secrete a chemical called incretin. This chemical "tells" the stomach not to release digested food, so there is a continued feeling of fullness. It "tells" the pancreas not to release glucagon, a hormone that would cause the creation of glucose from glycogen in the liver, which would result in a "sugar high" followed by a "sugar crash." Gordonoside F puts activity in the digestive tract on hold, so blood sugar levels stay steady even though food is not consumed, and the appetite is reduced because the stomach feels full.

The Chinese researchers did not publish their results just anywhere. They published their findings in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, so that when their corporate counterparts begin to sell hoodia products in the United States, everyone can know that they are based on unassailable science. 

In laboratory experiments with mice, the Chinese research team found that 200 mg of Gordonoside F extract had the appetite-suppressant power of 1000 mg of hoodia extract. They also found that gordonoside worked in many of the same ways as the latest generation of diabetes drugs in the United States, including Byetta, Victoza, and the related drug for obese people who do not necessarily have diabetes, Saxenda.

This isn't to say that diabetics can give up Byetta or Victoza and get the same results from hoodia (while probably losing the unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects caused by Byetta and Victoza). In fact, the Chinese researchers don't have an actual product for sale in any market. However, there are some reliable conclusions to reach from the research and a great deal of positive anecdotal experience:

• Hoodia reliably kills appetite, but its effects will be greatest if it is taken at the beginning of a meal. Don't wait until you are already hungry to take hoodia.

READ How to Avoid Hoodia Supplement Mistakes

• Hoodia will affect blood sugar levels as well as appetite. If you are not a type 1 diabetic, it will encourage the release of insulin by the pancreas. In this case, insulin won't encourage weight gain, because you won't be eating. However, indulging in high-calorie, fatty foods despite taking hoodia could have a distinctly counterproductive effect.
• Unlike Byetta (exenatide), Victoza (liraglutide), or Trulicity (dulaglutide), hoodia is highly unlike to cause urgent diarrhea or abdominal pain. If your doctor has you on one of these drugs and you are having problems with side effects, speak with your doctor about discontinuing your drug for a short-term of trial.

Remember, no herb or medication is a weight loss miracle unless you can see actual changes on the scales. However, it's entirely possible hoodia really is the weight loss miracle many thought it to be, only recently better understood.