Kissing cousins "What do you folks know about Hoodia?" asks an HSI member named Mark. "Is there any reason, besides cost, not to try it?" In a word - no. Many people find Hoodia to be an effective appetite suppressant. The problem with Hoodia is this: Is it really Hoodia? In a featured article that appeared in the March 2007 HSI Members Alert, Robert P. Stuart wrote: "There's a huge Hoodia-poaching problem in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana right now, with illegal collectors hacking away at whatever they can find, instead of carefully harvesting only a small part of the slow-growing plant each year. This reckless practice of slash-cutting kills the fragile Hoodia - and that's why it's now considered to be endangered, and its export is strictly controlled." Robert notes that although Hoodia does work, you have to be sure you get it from a reliable source because there are many products on the market that claim to be Hoodia, but contain little or none of the plant. But Hoodia has what Robert calls a kissing cousin: Caralluma. Like Hoodia, Caralluma is in the Apocyanaceae family. Robert: "If the Apocyanaceae family had a picnic, there'd be a heck of a lot of freeloaders showing up-but hardly any of them would have the P57 molecules necessary to suppress appetite. In fact, out of the hundreds of family members, only Hoodia and Caralluma contain these bioactive oxypregnane glycosides." Robert adds that Caralluma has an edge over Hoodia in that it can be harvested up to three times each year, compared to one yearly harvest for Hoodia. Laborers in western India use Caralluma to stave off hunger, and according to legend, ancient hunting tribes chewed Caralluma to suppress hunger and thirst on long hunts. HSI members can read Robert's entire article at this link: http://www.hsibaltimore.com/archives/alerts/hsi_2007/hsi_200703b.html The HSI Members Alert is an excellent resource for cutting edge information about alternative healthcare. Learn how you can be among the first to find out about the latest groundbreaking advances that the mainstream media routinely ignores. Sources:
"Clinically proven weight-loss extract overcomes Hoodia's greatest weakness" Robert P. Stuart, HSI Members Alert, March 2007, hsibaltimore.com | 
