Hoodia Safety
Are you looking for clear information about hoodia safety? That’s understandable considering the amount of media hype over one of the weight loss industry’s heavyweights. This hype has resulted in confusion and conflicting information. The public has been getting mixed messages and with any diet product like this, it’s dangerous to not be informed.
History tells us how dangerous some dietary herbs can be to our health, ephedrine being a prime example. This weight loss wonder herb was banned a couple of years ago in several countries for being suspect in the deaths of several people who’d been using it.
So what do we know about hoodia? At the moment the good news appear to be better than the bad news. But it’s important to know both sides. First off, it has been used for thousands of years by the native Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert (South Africa). They used it to reduce their appetite and thirst on long treks across the desert. There are no known side effects from all this time.
The next bit of good news is that science has also been able to confirm that hoodia does appear to reduce a person’s appetite. An ingredient in hoodia, called P57, affects the hypothalamus to reduce the sensation of being hungry. It’s also not a stimulant like ephedrine. It won’t make your heart race, cause jitters or nervousness.
So far so good. Now remember that diabetes and medication are ‘modern’ issues and were never something the African Bushmen had to deal with. So what do these conditions have to do with hoodia? For one, people who have diabetes need to eat at regular intervals to keep their blood sugar stabilized. If someone with this condition takes hoodia, they won’t be hungry and chances are good that they will either forget to eat or choose not to eat when they need to.
As hoodia also suppresses your thirst, anyone who needs to maintain high levels of fluids also need to take care to keep drinking as they normally would or they will quickly run into problems.
Then we come to medication issues. If you are already taking medication of some kind, it would be advisable to consult your family physician as to any possible problems that could arise from using hooding along with your medication.
Remember, in terms of mental health and safety, hoodia is not a magic diet pill. In order to lose weight in a healthy way, you need to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, reduce your saturated fat intake, control the carbohydrates that you consume, exercise for approximately twenty minutes every day, drink lots of water and be happy. Stress will stop any attempts to lose the unwanted pounds; in fact, chances are you will gain weight instead. Hoodia is a great supplement to take to reduce your appetite, but you won’t bring about lasting change in your weight or your health if you don’t make the appropriate lifestyle changes.