Will Hoodia Side Effects Stop Overweight Consumers?

Hoodia is the latest craze sweeping the weight loss supplement world. Native to the Kalahari Desert region of Southern Africa, hoodia was used by centuries to prevent hunger on long trips by long time residents of that arid region. The mainstream media has focused squarely on the apparently wondrous appetite suppressing powers of hoodia. Laboratory research continues. Apparently the only question not being asked is "What are the hoodia side effects?"Drug companies, desperate to come up with an artificial equivalent for the active hoodia ingredient, are having little success. They can reproduce the hoodia drug in the lab on a large scale, and therefore can't run large scale studies of hoodia side effects. Currently the only viable source of hoodia are the hoodia plants growing natively in the Kalahari Desert. The San Bushmen discovered hoodia and used it for centuries. Can't they tell us what the hoodia side effects are?Yes, the Kalahari residents can tell us what they know and what is in their folklore about hoodia side effects. However, this word of mouth evidence is insufficient for scientific research. It seems well established that hoodia is a potent appetite suppression supplement. There has not been enough long-term usage of the plant under controlled experiments to determine if there are any medical hoodia side effects.Common sense can tell us what some potential hoodia side effects might be. Because it turns off the appetite, people taking hoodia are likely to eat less. One of the hoodia side effects from that condition is that less is eaten. Yes, that's obvious, but because less is eaten, and modern diets are notoriously unhealthy then one of the hoodia side effects might be that less nutrition is taken in by those taking hoodia. Healthy bodies need high quality fuel to function, and one of the hoodia side effects might be to decrease the intake of nutritious foods.Another one of the potential hoodia side effects might be that people become dependent on hoodia. This doesn't mean dependent as in an addiction, although that needs to be researched. Of the possible hoodia side effects, this might mean that people taking hoodia to maintain or lose weight might exercise less. This aspect of possible hoodia side effects might lead to less healthy lifestyles. Of course this hasn't been proven at all, but it is wise to keep these possible hoodia side effects in mind.One example of non-medical hoodia side effects is the massive increase in e-mail spam related to hoodia. Open your inbox and you are likely to be inundated by messages hyping hoodia products. Of course, no mention is made of hoodia side effects. That would be bad for the spammers' sales. Instead, these unwanted messages declare the miracle of hoodia weight loss with never a mention of possible hoodia side effects.It may be that there are no bad hoodia side effects at all. It is too soon to tell. People obsessed with dieting and losing weight are likely to buy any and all hoodia weight loss products, regardless of potential or proven hoodia side effects. From a consumer's standpoint, the goal seems to be to lose the weight now, and worry about possible hoodia side effects later.