Kalahari cactus diet - The Efficacy of Hoodia

[Bricker]

This BBC article has some stunningly good things to say about the Hoodia cactus:

Dixey organised the first animal trials for Hoodia. Rats, a species that will eat literally anything, stopped eating completely.

When the first human clinical trial was conducted, a morbidly obese group of people were placed in a “phase 1 unit”, a place as close to prison as it gets.

All the volunteers could do all day was read papers, watch television, and eat.

Half were given Hoodia, half placebo. Fifteen days later, the Hoodia group had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 a day.

It was a stunning success.

Is this the latest scam, or can I plan a return to my high-school weight?

[ultrafilter]

If you’re not morbidly obese or a rat, you should probably hold off on getting excited over those studies. That said, it’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

[phouka]

Link’s not working for me, and I can’t find it by searching “hoodia cactus” on bbc.co.uk.

Help!

[Bricker]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/2947810.stm

Try the above.

[Squink]

United States Patent 6,376,657 (2002)

THIS INVENTION relates to steroidal glycosides, to compositions containing such steroidal glycosides and to a new use for these steroidal glycosides and the compositions containing them. The invention further relates to a method of extracting and isolating these steroidal glycosides from plant material, to a method of synthetically producing these steroidal glycosides, and to the products of such an extraction and such a synthesis process.
…
According to the invention, there is provided a process for preparing an extract of a plant of the genus Trichocaulon or of the genus Hoodia, the extract comprising an appetite suppressant agent, the process including the steps of treating collected plant material with a solvent to extract a fraction having appetite suppressant activity, separating the extraction solution from the rest of the plant material, removing the solvent from the extraction solution and recovering the extract. The extract so recovered may be further purified, eg by way of suitable solvent extraction procedures.

This is the US patent. There are others going back to 96.

Bushmen to Benefit From Cactus Based Patent

Phytopharm, which sublicensed the rights to Pfizer.

Lawsuits and Stuff

It sounds like there’s something real here, but being diet related there’s also a lot of scamming going on.

[aruvqan]

Aren’t there perfectly good appetite supressents already? Do we need an herbal one?

Sheesh, I wish I could get a scrip for straight classsic dexedrine … I knew a number of people in the 70s and early 80s who would pop a dexi first thing in the morning and go about their usual daily biz and lose weight…legally under a doc’s supervision, not ‘recreationally’. Supressed the appetite, and boosted the metabolism.

But then again, I am one of the fortunate few that is not an addictive personality