60 Minutes Report on Hoodia(CBS) Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it'll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away. It's very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn't stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you're full, even if you've eaten just a morsel. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports. "Hoodia, a plant that tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full, has been in the diet of South Africa's Bushmen for thousands of years." Because the only place in the world where hoodia grows wild is in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Nigel Crawhall, a linguist and interpreter, hired an experienced tracker named Toppies Kruiper, a local aboriginal Bushman, to help find it. The Bushmen were featured in the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy." Kruiper led 60 Minutes crews out into the desert. Stahl asked him if he ate hoodia. "I really like to eat them when the new rains have come," says Kruiper, speaking through the interpreter. "Then they're really quite delicious." When we located the plant, Kruiper cut off a stalk that looked like a small spiky pickle, and removed the sharp spines. In the interest of science, Stahl ate it. She described the taste as "a little cucumbery in texture, but not bad." So how did it work? Stahl says she had no after effects - no funny taste in her mouth, no queasy stomach, and no racing heart. She also wasn't hungry all day, even when she would normally have a pang around mealtime. And, she also had no desire to eat or drink the entire day. "I'd have to say it did work," says Stahl. Although the West is just discovering hoodia, the Bushmen of the Kalahari have been eating it for a very long time. After all, they have been living off the land in southern Africa for more than 100,000 years. Some of the Bushmen, like Anna Swartz, still live in old traditional huts, and cook so-called Bush food gathered from the desert the old-fashioned way. The first scientific investigation of the plant was conducted at South Africa's national laboratory. Because Bushmen were known to eat hoodia, it was included in a study of indigenous foods. "What they found was when they fed it to animals, the animals ate it and lost weight," says Dr. Richard Dixey, who heads an English pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm that is trying to develop weight-loss products based on hoodia. Was hoodia's potential application as an appetite suppressant immediately obvious? "No, it took them a long time. In fact, the original research was done in the mid 1960s," says Dixey. It took the South African national laboratory 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite-suppressing ingredient in hoodia. When they found it, they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million so far on research, including clinical trials with obese volunteers that have yielded promising results. Subjects given hoodia ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900. "If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically," says Dixey. But why do you need a patent for a plant? "The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight-loss material. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey. So no one else can use hoodia for weight loss? "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey. But what does that say about all these weight-loss products that claim to have hoodia in it? Trimspa says its X32 pills contain 75 mg of hoodia. The company is pushing its product with an ad campaign featuring Anna Nicole Smith, even though the FDA has notified Trimspa that it hasn't demonstrated that the product is safe. Some companies have even used the results of Phytopharm's clinical tests to market their products. "This is just straightforward theft. That's what it is. People are stealing data, which they haven't done, they've got no proper understanding of, and sticking on the bottle," says Dixey. "When we have assayed these materials, they contain between 0.1 and 0.01 percent of the active ingredient claimed. But they use the term hoodia on the bottle, of course, so they -- does nothing at all." But Dixey isn't the only one who's felt ripped off. The Bushmen first heard the news about the patent when Phytopharm put out a press release. Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, who are also called "the San," was appalled. "The San did not even know about it," says Chennells. "They had given the information that led directly toward the patent." The taking of traditional knowledge without compensation is called "bio-piracy." "You have said, and I'm going to quote you, 'that the San felt as if someone had stolen the family silver,'" says Stahl to Chennells. "So what did you do?" "I wouldn't want to go into some of the details as to what kind of letters were written or what kind of threats were made," says Chennells. "We engaged them. They had done something wrong, and we wanted them to acknowledge it." Chennells was determined to help the Bushmen who, he says, have been exploited for centuries. First they were pushed aside by black tribes. Then, when white colonists arrived, they were nearly annihilated. "About the turn of the century, there were still hunting parties in Namibia and in South Africa that allowed farmers to go and kill Bushmen," says Chennells. "It's well documented." The Bushmen are still stigmatized in South Africa, and plagued with high unemployment, little education, and lots of alcoholism. And now, it seemed they were about to be cut out of a potential windfall from hoodia. So Chennells threatened to sue the national lab on their behalf. "We knew that if it was successful, many, many millions of dollars would be coming towards the San," says Chennells. "Many, many millions. They've talked about the market being hundreds and hundreds of millions in America." In the end, a settlement was reached. The Bushmen will get a percentage of the profits -- if there are profits. But that's a big if. The future of hoodia is not yet a sure thing. The project hit a major snag last year. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which had teamed up with Phytopharm, and funded much of the research, dropped out when making a pill out of the active ingredient seemed beyond reach. Dixey says it can be made synthetically: "We've made milligrams of it. But it's very expensive. It's not possible to make it synthetically in what's called a scaleable process. So we couldn't make a metric ton of it or something that is the sort of quantity you'd need to actually start doing something about obesity in thousands of people." Phytopharm decided to market hoodia in its natural form, in diet shakes and bars. That meant it needed the hoodia plant itself. But given the obesity epidemic in the United States, it became obvious that what was needed was a lot of hoodia - much more than was growing in the wild in the Kalahari. And so they came here. 60 Minutes visited one of Phytopharm's hoodia plantations in South Africa. They'll need a lot of these plantations to meet the expected demand. Agronomist Simon MacWilliam has a tall order: grow a billion portions a year of hoodia, within just a couple of years. He admitted that starting up the plantation has been quite a challenge. "The problem is we're dealing with a novel crop. It's a plant we've taken out of the wild and we're starting to grow it,' says MacWilliam. "So we have no experience. So it's different? diseases and pests which we have to deal with." How confident are they that they will be able to grow enough? "We're very confident of that," he says. "We've got an expansion program which is going to be 100s of acres. And we'll be able - ready to meet the demand. This could be huge, given the obesity epidemic. Phytopharm says it's about to announce marketing plans that will have meal-replacement hoodia products on supermarket shelves by 2008. MacWilliam says these products are a slightly different species from the hoodia Stahl tasted in the Kalahari Desert. "It's actually a lot more bitter than the plant that you tasted," says MacWilliam. The advantage is this species of hoodia will grow a lot faster. But more bitter? How bad could it be? Stahl decided to find out. "Not good," she says. Phytopharm says that when its product gets to market, it will be certified safe and effective. They also promise that it'll taste good. |
|
All the links and descriptions on this page are taken from public sources such as engines (Google.com, MSN.com, Yahoo.com). However, if you think any information on this page violates copyright, please send an email to info@breastactivesplus.com and the links and descriptions will be removed. how to lose weight in two week |
| SoYouWanna lose weight? | SoYouWanna.com | |
| Let's say you want to lose two pounds per week. To do so, you need to figure out how many calories a person of your age, sex, and weight usually needs in a | |
| weight loss - free information on losing weight | |
| Losing anymore then 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthly. So look for a 1 or 2 pound weight loss at the end of the week. Don't sound like much? You can lose | |
| 2 Week Diet - Lose Weight in 2 Weeks | |
| Lose Weight Safely, Effectively & Fast - Only 2 Weeks! "I Lost 16 lbs the first two week session, OFF FOR Three weeks, lost another couple of pounds, | |
| Weight Loss - Fat Vanish | |
| weight loss fast lose weight. I measured and weighed myself yesterday at the two-week mark after I got up and was ecstatic to discover I lost five | |
| Ways to Lose Weight | |
| Two Easy Ways to Lose Weight - Easy Way to Reduce Weight - Why Does Weight Loss Stop? Do this 4 times a week and save: 22880 calories per year. | |
| What's the quickest way to lose weight in two weeks?? - Yahoo! Answers | |
| 10 answers - Serious answers please!! :) Thanks everyone! | |
| How to lose weight in two weeks? - Yahoo! Answers | |
| 6 answers - How can you lose weight quite quickly in two weeks, even if it is doing loads of sit ups then i will do it, i just want an effective way! | |
| Creating Passionate Users: The strangest, easiest way to lose weight | |
| For me, in two weeks, it's been working too well. I don't have a weight problem, . So basically some guy wrote a book on using control to lose weight, | |
| Lose ten pounds in two weeks by changing how you work » Brazen | |
| Change your work habits, and, lose weight? [?] Penelope Trunk at the Brazen Careerist, has an interesting article, Lose ten pounds in two weeks by changing | |
| Lose Weight In Two Weeks: Men (Previously Viewed) by on VHS at | |
| If you're too embarrassed to attend your high school reunion because of your bay window, here's the tape that'll help you get into that jacket. | |
| Overweight - Ask the Dietitian | |
| When trying to lose weight, you should set a realistic weight loss goal of one to two pounds per week. Rather than focusing on losing all of your weight at | |
| How to Lose Weight - wikiHow | |
| Lose weight safely. When losing weight you have to pace yourself or risk damaging your health. Losing more than two pounds per week is likely to adversely | |
| Collection of Tricks and Easy Ways to Lose Weight: Lose Almost 15 | |
| What I need to do to lose 15 pounds in two weeks: Fitness and Exercise, Can't Lose More Weight? Lose Weight in Your Arms, Right Exercise | |
| Collection of Tricks and Easy Ways to Lose Weight | |
| Oh - for the past two weeks I did not have crazy sugar cravings, even though I had When you think about doing any of the above in order to lose weight, | |
| The Low-Carbohydrate Craze: Is it a healthy way to lose weight? | |
| Here are some simple ways to lose weight:. Aim for no more than one to two pounds of weight loss per week. Watch portion sizes. | |
| Lose Weight Online and Get TWO weeks FREE! : Ecademy Marketplace | |
| Lose Weight Online and Get TWO weeks FREE! Are you trying to lose some weight? Are you finding it increasingly difficult to keep yourself motivated? | |
| Write yourself thin: need to lose weight? Grab a notebook and pen | |
| Write yourself thin: need to lose weight? Grab a notebook and pen, After two weeks, review your journal. Use a highlighter to mark the days when you ate | |
| Lose weight with HCA: this supplement may suppress your appetite | |
| After a two-week break, subjects received the same amount of HCA or a known as HCA) can help you lose weight without the potential side effects of some | |
| Amazon.com: The 3-Hour Diet for Teens: Lose Weight and Feel Great | |
| The 3-Hour Diet for Teens: Lose Weight and Feel Great in Two Weeks! by Jorge Cruise $10.87. 19% buy. The 3-Hour Diet (TM): Lose up to 10 Pounds in Just 2 | |
| Lose weight: take two weeks fit into your jeans this winter | |
| Lose weight: take two weeks fit into your jeans this winter. Think Yourself Thin. Did your weight creep up over the summer? You can fit into your favorite | |
| Wii Weight Loss Plan | Lose weight with your Wii! | |
| Nintendo Wii Weight Loss and Fitness Program and Plan for better health and at least cyberspace) for the last two weeks, and there's a few reasons for | |
| How to Lose Weight in 7 Days » iFitandHealthy.com | |
| Do not set a weight-loss goal. Instead of thinking, ?I need to lose 10 pounds in two weeks,? focus on developing healthy eating habits and being physically | |
| Amazon.co.uk: Lose Weight Now: Books: Glenn Harrold | |
| Lose Weight Now [Audiobook] (Audio CD) by Glenn Harrold (Author) But I have been using Glenn Harrold's CD for just two Weeks and have already lost 8lbs. | |
| Indiwo.com > For the Indian woman > Two Weeks to Losing Weight | |
| Dietician Sushila Sharangdhar says, "It is possible to lose weight in two weeks. But it is important to remember that your goals need to be realistic. | |
| 10 Steps to Lose Weight Safely | |
| what they're really asking is, "What can I do to lose weight that doesn't . I've spent the last two weeks or so plowing through them, and have come out | |
| lose weight articles, information and news | |
| If you want to lose weight slower, you can cut your total daily calories by less .. Two comments: 1. Per Weight Watchers: weigh yourself only once a week | |
| Simple Things You Can Do to Lose Weight | zen habits | |
| I did the fast just to see what fasting for two weeks was like, not in order to lose weight. It was very interesting, but it screwed up my metabolism and | |
| How much weight can one lose in two weeks? | Ask MetaFilter | |
| Hoping to lose weight in the new year? This discovery won?t help in 2007 but maybe some year . . . [IMG] Last week the journal Nature published two related | |
| 50 Weight Loss Tips ~ Chris Pirillo | |
| LOSE WEIGHT WITH HYPNOSIS. Weight Loss Cassette Tape. Dr. Thomas Yarnell Changes in your eating habits may be seen within one or two weeks while actual | |