Hoodia - Non-Scientific Explanation

Hoodia is a green plant, grows to a height of about 1M, needs very little water grows preferably in deserts and has stings. Not being a scientist, if somebody would ask me about Hoodia Gordonii, I actually would call it a cactus. Just following the old "duck-rule": if something walks quacks and looks like a duck - it most probably is a duck!

Now here is the surprise: science actually says that Hoodia Gordonii is not a cactus but a stem-succulent. Given the chance, a botanist would tell a long story in Latin about the kingdom of Plantae, the division of Magnoliophyta, the class of Magnioliopsida and the order of Gentianales. Then even a little bit more about the family of Apocynaceae, a subfamily, a tribe and finally about the genus called Hoodia.

Within the genus Hoodia, science is distinguishing between 13 different kinds of Hoodia and one of them is finally Hoodia Gordonii. I am actually quite certain you don't mind if I do not mention all the Latin names here.

No more Latin

In fact, I promise: we are done with Latin! Let us quickly recap: Hoodia Gordonii is a plant, growing in the arid and semi-arid areas of the deserts in southern Africa, the Namib and the Kalahari. It grows up to one meter and once a year, the plant has very colourful large flowers, with a strong smell.

Actually, because the flowers are really nice and have very bright colours, Hoodia Gordonii is today grown as garden plant. They are every gardeners dream: good looking, low maintenance and they grow on virtually every ground.

An Ancient People

The regions where Hoodia Gordonii preferably grows are also the homelands of the San-Tribe. Latest scientific research suggests that this tribe actually might be the genetic Adam of mankind.

Actually the plants and the Bushmen were already living in the area, long before the first scientists even thought of going there. And as the Bushmen were also there long before the Romans even existed, they did not give a fancy Latin name to Hoodia Gordonii, they called it "Xhoba" or "Ghaap".

As you can quite probably imagine, living in a desert or a semi-arid region, is not always pleasant and easy. Living there means that your main concern is survival and the San-Tribe is surviving in this area since thousands of years. They managed this by trying to live of everything they could lay their hands on, as long as it was not clearly poisonous.

Amongst these things were also the Hoodia plants. They were not poisonous and they provided nutrients, so Hoodia was on the meal plan of the San.

An Ancient Secret

Soon the San-People found out that the Hoodia plants not only were feeding them, the plants also helped them to treat indigestion and to fight infections.

And one of the Hoodia was even more special. Not only had it the same effects as the others, it was even useful far beyond that. The San-People discovered one very surprising, frankly miraculous, effect. Whenever they were consuming Hoodia Gordonii, it took them much longer, until they became hungry, until they needed to eat again.

This effect comes quite handy when you live in a region, where every little bit of food has to be fought for. The available food lasting longer - not bad when you live in a desert where food is rare. And even better, when you have to go on hunting trips, where you can live only on the things you carry with you, or find on the way. Obviously, with Hoodia life got simpler!

Hoodia - Today

All this happened thousands of years ago. Nobody, except the San-People, was even remotely interested in the effects of Hoodia Gordonii. It would take a few Millenniums before our society even started to think about weight loss and dieting.

Weight loss, dieting and appetite suppression? Yes - the San Bushmen had discovered the ultimate remedy for weight loss. Living longer on small amounts of food without getting hungry, gives us the possibility, to make a diet, to lose weight without feeling hungry as well.

Nowadays the demand for weight loss remedies is gigantic. And building upon the ancient knowledge of the San-People, Hoodia Gordonii became one of them. Actually it is amongst them the strongest, purely natural, available. Hoodia Gordonii is grown on farms today and in worldwide use as an easy, natural and efficient remedy. And without the San-People we probably never would have heard of it!