Hoodia: Lots of Hoopla, Little Science

It's taken years for overweight Americans to discover what the South African bush people knew innately -- or so the story goes. For eons, the bush people have nibbled a native succulent plant called Hoodiagordonii -- and stayed slim. No fretting (apparently) about fitting into "skinny jeans" or advancing a belt notch.

Now, the plant native to the Kalahari Desert is being imported in heaps to slim down hefty Americans. Media reports and word-of-mouth is fueling this latest weight loss craze, not to mention thousands of email spams.

Widely sold over the Internet and in health food and discount stores, Hoodia gordonii is typically offered in capsules or tablets, but is also available in milk chocolate chews. A 30-day supply often costs $35 and up.

Despite booming sales -- one manufacturer claims its sales alone reached $20 million in the past year -- the unanswered question is: Where's the proof this stuff works?

Because it is sold as a dietary supplement, hoodia escapes the level of scrutiny the FDA gives prescription drugs and medications sold over the counter.

The Science

Hoodia does have some evidence to back it up, says Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, a nonprofit research organization in Austin, Texas. He cites one laboratory study but says the evidence is not conclusive.

"We can only say the evidence available to us right now, which is considered inadequate, suggests that there is some type of appetite-suppressing mechanism in some of the naturally occurring chemicals in hoodia," Blumenthal says. He adds that his organization has not received any consumer reports of safety problems with hoodia use.

Goldfarb's Study

Goldfarb studied DEX-L10, the 500-milligram hoodia capsules sold by Delmar Labs. Goldfarb did the study for the manufacturer but says he was not paid for the research. "I did it as a service to them," he says.

In Goldfarb's study, the seven overweight participants were told to take two Hoodia gordonii (DEX L-10) capsules a day, eat a balanced breakfast and take a multivitamin, and keep other eating and exercise habits unchanged. The participants' starting weights ranged from 193 to 345 pounds. They lost, on average, 3.3% of their body weight, Goldfarb says. The median loss over the 28- day study was 10 pounds (half lost more, half less).

Most of the participants reported their caloric intake dropped to less than half within a few days after starting hoodia, and they didn't report side effects such as jitteriness or insomnia, Goldfarb says.

"Hoodia gordonii works within the satiety center of the brain by releasing a chemical compound similar to glucose but up to 100 times stronger," Goldfarb says in his written report. "The hypothalamus receives this signal as an indication that enough food has been consumed and this in turn decreases the appetite."

What Doctors Say

Michael Steelman, MD, chairman of the board of trustees for the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, treats obese patients in his practice in Oklahoma City, and many of them ask him about hoodia. "I remain pretty skeptical," he says. "Some of my patients have tried it, but I haven't had any who felt like it was helpful to them."

Consider Your Sources

On one point nearly everyone agrees: there's plenty of fake hoodia out there. MacLean is especially suspicious that hoodia products

sold over the Internet aren't the real thing or don't have enough hoodia in them to work.

It's "buyer, beware," Blumenthal says. "There appears to be much more hoodia offered in North American markets than the production ability of the South African markets."

If you decide to try hoodia, "Buy at a reputable store and buy a reputable brand," suggests Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, an industry group. If it seems too cheap to be good, it probably is, he says.

To boost your odds of finding the real stuff, experts suggest asking the manufacturer if it sends its hoodia to an independent lab for testing.

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