Weight Loss And Plant Extracts

Weight loss, it's a broad term, please excuse the pun. Most of us want to be a little slimmer, some want to be a lot slimmer and there are some than need to lose weight. The last group of people are those that are clinically overweight. If fact I'm talking about obesity. Now a GP friend of mine (now retired) always said there is only one reason people are "fat" they eat too much. Now there is some truth in that statement but it's not a fact. He also would say that they needed to move around more, again some truth here. This particular GP was like a pipe cleaner and could eat for his country.

I found this interesting as he clearly didn't take his own advice, yet he had no weight problem. I even pointed this out to him. His answer was simple " I have a very fast metabolism" So could that mean it is possible for others to a very slow metabolism? His answer "not impossible". Even after admitting this, he held the same view of overweight people. This led me to wonder why he ever followed a path into medicine. Actually I know why, His father was a doctor, his grandfather was a doctor and so my good friend joined the family business. His son is at university studying law, on his father’s advice.

All that aside, the point is that people gain weight for any number of reasons. If you want to lose that weight, yes cut the calories, take regular exercise (it won't do you any harm) but it doesn't always result in sustained weight lose. The first port of call should always be you GP. Thankfully my friend hung up this white coat a while ago now. Still most doctors will tell you to eat less and move about more. As we've established this is good advice. In extreme cases they can give you a drug. It act on you brain to take away your appetite. I'm not going to name the drug, it's been in the news here recently. The side effects are to say the least worrying. There is also the surgical option but not without risk. So what is left?

Well how about nature, plants to be exact. The particular plant I want to talk about here is a small ugly South African Cactus like 'weed' known as Hoodia Gordonii. You may of heard of it it's been big news on and off since the mid 1990s.

Heres a quick overview of the Hoodia story,

Deep in the Kalahari Desert live the Sans bush people, the are hunter gatherers. The men of the tribe go on long hunting trips lasting days, sometimes weeks. To preserve there limited supply of food and water they chew on the flowers and flesh of the Hoodia plant. They've done so for several thousand years.
When scientist eventually examined the plant they made a startling discovery. It contained a new unknown molecule. They called it P57. It turned out to mimic the effect of Glucose, telling the brain that the stomach is satisfied. Only it's about 10,000 faster that glucose. This means hunger is effectively switched off also any thirst is quenched. A truly amazing discover! So like all respectable scientist they quickly sold the right to P57 to a British pharmaceutical company.

Now that company saw the potential and tested Hoodia on rats, they'll eat anything right? The rat fed the hoodia stopped eating completely, after a few days they returned to normal. The next stage was a human trial. That was conducted here in the UK, a group of morbidly obese volunteers took part. After two weeks in what was described as a prison with all the food you can eat, the Hoodia group had cut their calorie intake by 40%. A great success. So the British company did the only thing they could, they sold the rights to P57 to an American pharmaceutical giant for millions.

So here we are some years later, still no synthesized P57 and as far as I can tell no new clinical trials. Hoodia Gordonii has been proven to contain a new molecule, we know how it works, we know it does work and judging from the 2000 year San bush people’s field trial, no side effects. Where is it?

To this day you can buy it over the counter as a dietary supplement. Although there have been problems. Not with Hoodia it's self but with less than honest manufacturers. Hoodia Gordonii is an endangered species, therefore under strict control and expensive. It's popular and people will pay a reasonable price for it. The perfect climate to propagate con men. That seems to have the problem for Hoodia Gordonii, there are a number of other factors including a legal battle over royalties for the Sans people and illegal harvesting.

Yet again nature has provided us with something that can help with the modern day problem of obesity. Something safe, well know and easy to administer. As usual we seem to be doing our best to find a man made alte
ative, with scary side effects, needing constant monitoring and which our straining health service needs to pay for.

This is my view of the situation; I've made a point of not mentioning companies or brand names. Not because I think they will peruse me in the courts but because they still have time to redeem themselves. In the mean time I'd like more GP's to read the research on Hoodia Gordonii, to look at the BBC investigation and keep an eye on the medical jou
als. I have a feeling that a huge US drugs company is running double blind trials of a P57 derivative somewhere out there.