Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent plant that grows on in South Africa in desert regions such as the Kalahari Desert . There have been precious little published research done but a research team at Brown University gave Hoodia to rats via injection and found no adverse side effects. While this was not the reason for the study, they did notice that the rats were eating less and further study found that it was a natural substance found in Hoodia; glycosides that act on the hypothalamus and signal to the body a person is full.

The mechanism of Hoodia Gordonii

Quite simply, Hoodia tells the brain via an increased level of glucose in the blood that it is not hungry. As we eat food, our levels of glucose increase. Studies were preformed due to the very bad side effects found with other diet supplements on the market at time such as Ephedra which has since been removed from public consumption.

Studies done by Phytopharm

Phytopharm has researched Hoodia and reiterated the fact that Hoodia poses no known ill effects for human consumption. While most studies of Hoodia were preformed on animals, the best information found was it did produce a decrease in the animal's food intake and they did lose weight. The only real known danger if it can be called that, from Hoodia is that one must stick to the recommended dosage.

Phytopharm is doing studies on possible synthetic versions of the active agent in Hoodia that causes the lack of huger in subjects, P57. While natural Hoodia poses no dangers known at this time, a synthetic version of P57 may, so further studies are warranted.

Consult Your Physician

For anyone thinking of taking Hoodia as a natural diet supplement, it is important to go to your doctor and have a checkup first. Make sure your body is ready for a regime of diet, exercise and lack of food. As with any diet supplement, if you are pregnant or have high blood pressure issues, Hoodia may not be the best choice for you. Hoodia Gordonii does what it claims, it suppresses the urge to eat food for lengthy periods of time, and so make sure your body can handle that. And also keep up on any current Hoodia research as it becomes available so as to ensure your health stays in good shape.

Above all, till now it has been found that there are no or very negligible amount of side effects are associated with this product being a natural herbal way.