BBC reporter Tom Mangold has been in South Africa to investigate the cactus plant Hoodia which is said to be able to fool the brain into believing your stomach is full without eating.
Tom Mangold
Imagine a plant that kills hunger and reduces obesity. SlimBetti Hoodia has no known side-effects, and contains a molecule that cheats your brain into believing you are full.
Deep in the South African Kalahari grows a cactus called Hoodia. It thrives in inhumanly high temperatures and takes years to mature. Bushmen from the San tribe, one of the world’s oldest and most primitive tribes, have been eating Hoodia for thousands of years to keep hunger at bay during long hunting wanderings in the desert.
Since Hoodia was tested by South African scientists, they discovered that the plant contains a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P57. The license for the P57 has since been sold to a bio-pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Phytopharm, who then sold the development and marketing to Pfizer.
One lucky cactus
When I [BBC journalist Tom Mangold] traveled to the Kalahari, I met families from the San tribe. It is a sad and poor tribe that still is unwinnable if they sit on top of a gold mine. But if the Hoodia works as expected, the 100,000 tribal people will inherit millions based on royalties negotiated by lawyer Roger Chennells.
And they need all the help they can get, to secure the money.
Many tribal people smoke large quantities of marijuana, are alcoholic and do not own or are knowledgeable about money. The truth is that none of them really understand what the magic molecule can mean for people in our part of the world.
Glucose
According to the British Heart Foundation, 17% of men and 21% of women suffer from obesity and 46% of men and 32% of women are overweight. Hoodia’s potential market speaks for itself.
Phytopharma’s Dr Richard Dixey explained how P57 works:
“There is a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. In its center are a few nerve cells that can sense glucose sugar. When you eat and in the presence of glucose, these cells become activated and you feel satiated.
“Hoodia seems to contain a molecule that is about. 10,000 times as active as glucose. It migrates to the midbrain and activates these cells. But you have not eaten, and you do not like it.
The infamous P57 Molecule
Medical controlled trials
Dixey organized the first animal studies with Hoodia. Rats will eat almost anything, stopped eating. When the first human testing was performed, it was on a group of very obese people placed in an environment that is as close to a prison as possible. All the volunteers could do nothing else than read newspapers, watch television or eat.
Half received the Hoodia and the other half a placebo (a harmless substance that resembles Hoodia pills but has no effect). Fifteen days later, the group on Hoodia reduced their calorie intake by 1000 calories a day.
It was a smashing success.
Cactus Test
We could even see the effect and drove into the desert, four hours north of Cape Town to find the Hoodia Cactus. We found a awkward looking plant with approx. 10 arms, each one roughly the size of a long cucumber. Each arm is covered in spikes which are easy to remove. Inside we found the bad-tasting plant.
At around. 18.00 I ate about half a banana size – later, my camera man immediately did the same. The plant is said to have an almost euphoric effect, and it must be said that it felt good.
But more importantly we did not eat food. Our brains told us that we were well fed. It was a brilliant bluff. We ate no supper and around midnight we went to bed without eating. The next morning neither of us wanted nor ate the breakfast we made.
I ate lunch without an appetite. Partial, and later full appetite returned slowly back after approx. 24 hours.
Future
Mr Chennells is ecstatic:
“The tribesman will finally be able to shake thousands of years of social isolation, poverty, oppression and discrimination against them. We will create a fund with their Hoodia royalties and their children will join South Africa’s middle classes in our lifetime.”
“I envisage Hoodia being available in London and New York on top of salads like cucumber. They must be seasoned to dim the unpleasant taste, but there are no unpleasant side effects whatsoever.”
San tribesmen from South Africa
Unfortunately for those who want to lose weight, it will take a few years before the medical examination is completed and Hoodia comes to market. Beware if you want to buy Hoodia online, because a test resulted in pills which had no Hoodia in them.
San Tribesmen hunting.
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