The Hoodia Gordonii is a plant that is known for the medicinal properties. It can be found in South Africa and Namibia. It is a spiny, juicy plant with flowers that smell like decaying meat. It is similar in appearance to a cactus and was discovered around 1779 by a man named Robert Jacob Gordon, near the Orange River.

There has been a lot of hype associated with it recently with it being used as an aid for weight loss by many people around the world. Bushmen have been said to have used it when on long hunting trips to keep any hunger and thirst that they may feel at bay. They would eat the plants in order to have these effects.

A person can purchase Hoodia Gordonii in a variety of forms. There are capsules, liquid, powders and tea forms available in many health food stores. You can even purchase them over the internet.

There has been no human testing done on this product yet, but it has been done in rats and mice. Studies found that mice that were injected with the Hoodia Gordonii ate far less then the rats and mice that did not receive the drug. This could be a positive sign for researchers in the future but they will need to run studies on humans to see how accurate the comparisons are with rats and mice.

There has been a case where a newsperson wanted to find out whether or not the information that she heard about hoodia was true or not. This person made the trip to Africa and was taken to an area where the plant was located and tried it out first hand. The taste of it was found to be somewhat like a cucumber and it was not bad.

The results that were found were exactly like the claims of the Bushmen from years ago. Along with this there were no side effects noted either. The thirst and hunger that would normally be felt through the course of a day were not there at all the day that this was done.

Now with this said, we can assume that there is truth to the claims that Hoodia Gordonii is an appetite suppressant. But irregardless of this there needs to be more tests done with the drug to see what other benefits it may have. Sooner or later testing will be done with Hoodia Gordonii to ensure the safety it has for us all. It has been rumoured to be associated with kidney problems. This would make it a definite no no for pregnant women or children to take until there is some evidence to support this either way.

Hoodia Gordonii is like anything else that is out there on the market that people are unsure of. It is wise to do some research on such things before putting them into your body.