Hoodia is a plant found in the African Kalahari desert. It is long known to the people living here, but western society has just recently dipped it's feet into it. It has good as well as adverse effects, so let's start with the good ones.

If you think about it, Hoodia is one of the oldest weight loss pills ever... It is known to the San Bushmen for centuries if not longer. It's most common action is appetite suppression. We have to understand that for a tribe of hunters this is a valuable plant when going out on hunting trips that span days at a time. Appetite suppression leads to low calorie intake, but make no mistake this is not the sole factor that will burn you fat. Your body must understand that you are not starving. Starving and fasting are critical periods when your body gasps desperately for energy supplied by burning proteins from your muscles. This is one thing you don't want. Instead, you have to set your body to burn fat and this is quite easy if you can follow a simple rule: exercise and even more important eat regularly. The message relayed to your hypothalamus – the appetite center, is that you have access to food, you are not starving and there is no reason whatsoever to burn valuable proteins. Easier said than done these days...

Hoodia has another effect as well: it diminishes thirst. Combined with appetite suppression this is dangerous according to scientists in patients who already have metabolic disorders like diabetes. So don't forget to drink plenty of water!

What about side-effects? This issue is still open to debate because some say that since San Bushmen have been using Hoodia for so long it has no side effects. Other says that this cannot be stated for pregnant women or children. One thing is sure Pfizer dropped development of artificial Hoodia and this can only mean a couple of things: synthetic p57 has no effect or even worst it is toxic, or it involves too high costs.

Judge for yourself, but going after the natural product can be done in 2 ways: either have a trip to the Kalahari Desert and eat the flowers of this plant or buy the more expensive, but natural diet pills which contain Hoodia gordonii extract.