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There are several species of hoodia plant, but the only species that has been a consistent performer in curbing appetite is hoodia gordonii, a rare and endangered succulent grown only in the Kalahari Desert in and around South Africa.
The 13 reported species of Hoodia are -
H. alstonii
H. currorii
H. dregei
H. flava
H. gordonii
H. juttae
H. mossamedensis
H. officinalis
H. parviflora
H. pedicellata
H. pilifera
H. ruschi
and H. triebneri
The governments of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa requested that all 13 species of the hoodia genus be protected. The primary reason being that almost all the species have been reported to be used by companies and small business owners sometimes by mistake and sometimes knowingly to manufacture weight loss products or other supplements. Other species can in fact be easily mistaken for hoodia gordonii and harvested for use as an appetite suppressant. Hoodia is a genus of succulent plants in the family Apocynaceae that is widely used traditionally by the San people of southern Africa and H.gordonii is the only one that can be used as an appetite suppressant, thirst quencher and as a cure for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.
Less is known about the use of this group of plants by other indigenous people, but there is overall limited use of Hoodia parts as food items in Africa.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa isolated an active compound (P57) for appetite suppression from H. gordonii. Hoodia species occur in summer rainfall areas in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa as well as winter rainfall areas in Namibia (MET 2002). Only one species if found east of 26 degrees longitude, i.e H. currorii subsp. lugardii , which occurs in Botswana and the Limpopo province of South Africa. The centres of diversity for Hoodia are in Namibia (11 taxa) and South Africa (9 taxa). Cultivation trials are currently underway in South Africa (under the auspices of the CSIR) and on a small scale in Namibia. At present, only a small quantity of material has been harvested from cultivated material.
Because there are chances that adulteration of products claiming to contain H. gordonii may occur, several techniques have been developed for product analysis and this becomes crucial for safety as well as product efficiency. Currently, there is a liquid chromatographic/mass spectrometric (LC/MS) method (11) used for the analysis of H. gordonii.
