Hoodia Diet Supplement

You might have come across the name everywhere. Hoodia Gordonii has taken the weight loss world by surprise. It has been touted as the best miracle weight loss pill; it is now being put into ?all in one' from multivitamins to TrimSpa.

How does it function?Well, the Hoodia Diet Supplement has been shown to have some specific effects in the area of weight-loss. Still before running out to buy the latest Gordonii pill from your drug store, try to know certain things.

Here are three groundbreaking ways Hoodia Gordonii helps you to lose your weight.

i) Gordonii makes You Physically Less Hungry. Pure Hoodia contains a molecule called ?P57' which, scientists believe, is responsible for making you feel full. Normally, when you eat food, this food turns to glucose. When the glucose level in your body increases, Hoodia sends signals to your brain that you are full.

ii) Hoodia, the magic pill turns off the desire to overeat. Reports show that Hoodia not only makes you feel full, but it also slows down the desire to eat. You know that, people can feel physically fulfilled but still eat for a bundle of reasons like timing, emotions and social influence. In fact emotional eating is actually responsible for more overeating than physical hunger. Genuine Hoodia pill can help you lose weight by slaking this desire to eat and breaking the emotional attachment to food.

iii) By turning off your appetite, the hoodia diet supplement allows you to make rational, healthy food choices. It bears the pain of building new healthier eating habits in you. Since you probably don't want to be on Hoodia product forever, this is a great way to lose weight and transition your eating to a healthier, lighter diet - with less pain and deprivation.

Those are three diet patches that work with Hoodia Gordonii to help you lose weight and reach your goals. Make sure you follow these suggestions and you'll be well on your way to weight-loss success.

Hodia Weight Loss Pills - An excellent diet pills

When the question of weight-loss arises, people always favor awkward methods. People don't want to learn ?Dietary Fundamentals'; they don't want to pursue healthy food habits. In fact many of you are still looking for overnight results. And that is the reason for hundreds of diet-pills and weight loss supplements on the market. The latest arrival on the Weight Loss circuit is an unbeatable African luscious product known as Hoodia Gordonii.

How does Hoodia Diet Pill Breaking Barrier?For decades, the diet pill industry has been an all-natural appetite suppressant with no side effects other than the intended weight loss. However many diet pills became very popular within a shot span of time. While many of these worked, they often came with a heavy list of side effects. After a preliminary flurry of sales and excitement, most were dumped off due to dangers associated with its use, and some were even debarred from selling. Hoodia diet pills were launched in the U.S. market in early 2004; Hoodia Gordonii product has been steadily penetrating the market as a powerful appetite reducer that can help you lose weight. Its popularity was significantly boosted through a wide coverage by media giants ABC News and BBC News.

According to Phytopharm, the company that holds the patent on the process to extract ?P57' an active ingredient from hoodia, human subjects taking hoodia roots reduced their calorie intake by as much as 2k calories a day. So figures are impressive, and so far the overall results are satisfactory.

Is Hoodia Safe?Since major News desks like ABC News and BBC News endorse Hoodia diet pill, scammers found it's extremely easy to sell junks in the name of Hoodia. Many hoodia supplements available on the market actually do not have Hoodia Gordonii. Some even contains dangerous chemicals. Obviously it's hard to tell which Company sells genuine products and who don't. However before rushing to purchase a Hoodia product, consult your doctor, check the product certificate and take guidance from your colleague who has already used the product. Be alert, don't allow you to be cheated. Hoodia is a very expensive plant. So it's virtually impossible to sell Hoodia at a peanut price.

Hoodia - Some Interesting facts

Hoodia is a natural appetite suppressant, which is gaining attention as a powerful weapon in the struggle against weight loss and obesity. Hoodia was introduced in the market very recently in year 2004.

Here are some facts about Hoodia that one should know: Hoodia gordonii resembles like a cactus, but actually it is a succulent from Kalahari Desert of southern Africa. Hoodia gordonii is not a drug. It is absolutely an herb. Some pharmaceuticals companies are trying to isolate "P57" appetite suppressing molecule to create a pharmaceutical drug in the near future. Gordonii variant of Hoodia only has the appetite suppressant characteristics. Hoodia empowers your brain making you think that you have taken food and make you feel full. Hoodia may work very quickly or may take long period depending on person to person. Hoodia Gordonii has no known side effects. Hoodia is safe for all people. In older time people used Hoodia to fight hunger and thirst during long journeys in the deserts of Kalahari. How Does Hoodia Work?Hoodia Gordonii contains a magic molecule called as P57, which act on nerve cells like glucose molecule and make the brain feel full. A clinical research performed in Britain showed that Hoodia gordonii could reduce appetite by more than hundred of calories a day.

How Quickly Hoodia will work?Some people feel the effect just after 20 to 30 minutes. In some cases it was up to two to three weeks. Mainly effects will include:

Feeling full more quickly. A delay in the time after eating before hunger sets in again. General feeling of well being. Reduced interest in food. As it will help you reduce calorie intake means it will surely help you in weight loss.

The Miracle of Green Tea

The Benefits Of Green Tea:

Green Tea Contains The Following:

Tannins - A group of simple and complex phenol, polyphenol, and flavonoid compounds. Produced by plants, all of the tannins are relatively resistant to digestion or fermentation. All tannins act as astringents, shrinking tissues and contracting structural proteins in the skin and mucosa.

What Does This Do For You?

Having a cup of green tea after a meal can aid in digestion. Green tea has been used for thousand of years in Asia as a digestive.

Catechins - Catechins are a category of polyphenols. In green tea, catechins are present in significant quantities, more specifically; epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG makes up about 10-50% of the total catechin content and appears to be the most powerful of the catechins - with antioxidant activity about 25-100 times more potent than vitamins C and E.

A cup of green tea may provide 10-40mg of polyphenols and has antioxidant activity greater than a serving of broccoli, spinach, carrots or strawberries.

What Does This Do For You?

Well having a powerful anti-oxidant coursing through your system after a heavy workout is just what you need to curb free radical damage.

Flavonoids - Flavonoids are plant pigments, and are the brightly colored chemical constituents found in most fresh fruits and vegetables.

What Does This Do For You?

Obviously your workouts will suffer if you are sick.

Theanine - An amino acid that produces tranquilizing effects in the brain, theanine is a unique amino acid found in the leaves sencha. Theanine is quite different from the polyphenol and catechin antioxidants for which green tea is typically consumed.

What Does This Do For You?

I can personally attest to the good feelings you get after a couple cups of green tea. It leaves you with a peaceful feeling without compromising motivation and mental activity.

Bodybuilding & Fitness Uses

Pre-workout - Green tea is a great alternative to the ECA stack. Yeah I know nothing beats the ECA stack but hear me out. A number of people, including myself do not like how the ECA stack makes us feel.

I get jittery and easily angered for some reason. The green tea is great because it does have some caffeine and the Theanine really relaxes you mentally but lets you perform physically.

Cutting - Research suggests that supplementing with green tea can raise your resting metabolic rate by 3%. In order to get this benefit you must have about about 3 glasses a day. If you have a bmr of 2000 or so that means 60 extra calories a day. Why do you see so few obese Asians. Its not the kung-fu. It's the green tea!

All About Tea

All teas come from the same source. The tea plant is a member of the Camellia family (Camellia sinensis). Black tea, oolong tea, and green tea are all derivatives of this one plant.

It is the way the tea is prepared that determines its color. After the tea plant is picked, it is fermented, and then heated to stop the fermentation process. This fermentation process is responsible for the caffine content of the tea. The longer it is fermented the more caffine the tea will have. Green tea has the least amount of caffine of all the teas because it is the least fermented. The reason why green tea has the most health benefits is because a longer fermentation process destroys many of the beneficial substances in the tea plant. That is why chugging your Lipton tea is not even remotely comparable to having a cup of green tea (Lipton is made from black tea).

History of Hoodia Gordonii

As we discussed in the Overview of Hoodia, the Bushmen (or the San) have used Hoodia plants as a natural appetite suppressant for thousands of years. But how did the secret of the San get out? It turns out by accident?

In 1996 the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa was doing a study of indigenous foods that the Bushmen ate. Part of the study was to test for toxic effects of any plants that were consumed by the Bushmen. When they came to Hoodia Gordonii, not only was it non-toxic - it helped animals lose weight!

They found when they fed hoodia to animals, the animals lost weight. By 1997, the CSIR isolated the bioactive compound in Hoodia responsible for appetite suppression and obtained a patent. The patent was licensed to Phytopharm and they named the molecule - P57 (because it was the 57th product they spent money on).

What did the Bushmen get for their discovery of the Hoodia Gordonii plant?At first - nothing! Turns out the CSIR told Phytopharm that the tribe which discovered the Hoodia Gordonii plant had died out and therefore no royalties were due. However, as Mark Twain might say - "tales of the Bushmen's death were greatly exaggerated". When the Bushmen got word that Phytopharm stood to make billions of dollars off their knowledge about the hoodia gordonii plant they were not happy.

Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, was quick to apply strong legal , moral and political pressure on both the CSIR and Phytopharm. Chennells pointed out to anyone who would listen that the taking of traditional knowledge without compensation was "bio-piracy" and must be stopped.

In what is seen as a landmark case, Chennells was able to convince the CSIR and Phytopharm to compensate the Bushmen. Now, any company that legally harvests hoodia gordonii from the Kalahari desert must pay royalties back to the Bushmen. Not only is this fair and just, it also provides an excellent way to check if the hoodia you buy is legitimate. If the company that makes the hoodia is NOT paying royalties to the Bushmen, you do NOT have a legitimate hoodia gordonii product.

So when will Phytopharm release a P57 based appetite suppressant?Probably never. As we touched on in the overview, Pfizer had originally paid Phytopharm for the rights to market a P57 based diet pill. After a few year of unsuccessful attempts to make P57 synthetically, Pfizer pulled out of the deal. If a large amount of P57 could not be created inexpensively in the lab, Pfizer was not interested.

While Phytopharm was discouraged by the Pfizer decision, they knew that Hoodia Gordonii was too powerful an appetite suppressant to give up trying to bring it to the market. In December 2004, Phytopharm announced that Unilever had entered a deal to market hoodia gordonii in its diet food product line. Therefore, rather than producing diet drugs, it looks like Phytopharm and Unilever will product diet supplements and diet foods with hoodia. The first Unilever products will not be out until 2008.

Does Phytopharm own the patent on the whole Hoodia Gordonii plant?This is an interesting question that we are sure will be decided in court one day. Here is our take on the situation - Phytopharm clearly owns the patent on the P57 molecule. If you want to try to make a diet drug with P57 you need to work through Phytopharm.

The question of the Hoodia Gordonii plant itself being patented is much more complicated. It is our belief that you can not patent a plant, but you can patent the use of plants and a process to extract plants. Here is an exact quote from Richard Dixey, CEO of Phytopharm when he appeared on 60 minutes?

"The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight-loss material. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey.

So no one else can use hoodia for weight loss? "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey.

The way we read this (and again we are not lawyers and are not giving any legal advice) is as follows - you can sell a Hoodia Gordonii supplement, you just can NOT say it is for weight loss. This is why many of the best Hoodia supplements have very plain labels that just say "Hoodia Gordonii" but do not say anything about using it as a weight loss or appetite suppressant supplement.

Hoodia Gordonii Cactus

Deep inside the African Kalahari desert, grows an ugly cactus called the Hoodia. It thrives in extremely high temperatures, and takes years to mature.

The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, had been eating the Hoodia for thousands of years, to stave off hunger during long hunting trips.

When South African scientists were routinely testing it, they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P 57.

According to the British Heart Foundation 17% of men and 21% of women are obese, while 46% of men and 32% of women are overweight.

So the drug's marketing potential speaks for itself.

Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey explained how P.57 actually works:

"There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus. Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar.

"When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full.

Green Tea Fights Fat

Jan. 26, 2005 -- Need another healthy reason to drink green tea? Aside from fighting heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, a new study shows that drinking green tea may also fight fat.

The study showed that people who drank a bottle of tea fortified with green tea extract every day for three months lost more body fat than those who drank a bottle of regular oolong tea.

Researchers say the results indicate that substances found in green tea known as catechins may trigger weight loss by stimulating the body to burn calories and decreasing body fat.

The findings appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Green Tea: Fat Fighter?

Black tea, oolong tea, and green tea come from the same Camellia sinensis plant. But unlike the other two varieties, green tea leaves are not fermented before steaming and drying.

Most teas contain large amounts of polyphenols, which are plant-based substances that have been shown to have antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral properties.

However, green tea is particularly rich in a type of polyphenols called catechins. These substances have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, but recent research in animals show that catechins may also affect body fat accumulation and cholesterol levels.

In this study, researchers looked at the effects of catechins on body fat reduction and weight loss in a group of 35 Japanese men. The men had similar weights based on their BMI (body mass index, an indicator of body fat) and waist sizes.

The men were divided into two groups. For three months, the first group drank a bottle of oolong tea fortified with green tea extract containing 690 milligrams of catechins, and the other group drank a bottle of oolong tea with 22 milligrams of catechins.

During this time, the men ate identical breakfasts and dinners and were instructed to control their calorie and fat intake at all times so that overall total diets were similar.

After three months, the study showed that the men who drank the green tea extract lost more weight (5.3 pounds vs. 2.9 pounds) and experienced a significantly greater decrease in BMI, waist size, and total body fat.

In addition, LDL "bad" cholesterol went down in the men who drank the green tea extract.

The catechin content varies by amount of green tea used and steeping time. But general recommendations, based on previous studies on the benefits of green tea, are at least 4 cups a day. Green tea extract supplements are also available.

Researchers say the results indicate that catechins in green tea not only help burn calories and lower LDL cholesterol but may also be able to mildly reduce body fat.

"These results suggest that catechins contribute to the prevention of and improvement in various lifestyle-related diseases, particularly obesity," write researcher Tomonori Nagao of Health Care Products Research Laboratories in Tokyo, and colleagues.

SOURCE: Nagao, T. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2005; vol 81: 122-129.

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