Hoodia- An Introductory Story!
Hoodia, a plant often known for its succulent nature in botanical world; primarily grows in the harsh environment of semi-deserts of countries like Botswana, Angola, Africa and Namibia. One can trace the plant by its looks which resembles to one with dill pickle with some spines on it. It usually takes a bit of five years or more for the appearance of pale color purplish flowers after which only plant can be harvested. There are almost more than 13 species of Hoodia in existence today.
The story began back in 1930’s when a noted Dutch anthropologist observed that San Bushmen of Kalahari Desert totally rely on Hoodia to ward of their thirst & hunger during their long hunting voyages. Then a British company, Phytopharm with the help of South African scientists was able to successfully isolate the ingredient responsible for appetite suppressant nature of the plant. The ingredient was named P57 which was first patented by Phytopharm and subsequently developed into a Hoodia drug by pharmaceutical major Pfizer. However later, the rights were once again returned to Phytopharm, which is now working with Unilever.
Hoodia came into the sudden limelight after much hyped travel story of 60 Minutes correspondents to deserts of Africa where they were supposed to rely on Hoodia to carry on their expedition without food or water for entire day.
Today popularity of Hoodia drug as an effective weight loss supplement is another marketing story since then.
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Great article….thanks for sharing some wonderful information!