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Hoodia, Hoodia and 60 minutes will forever be connected. On Sunday Nov. 21, 2004 at 7p.m. was the moment that everything changed for millions of people trying to lose weight and also for the San Bushmen in Kalahari Desert of South Africa. In that short sixty minute time period dieters around the globe learned of a small cactus that grows in the semi-desert basin that the indigenous San People eat to reduce their appetite. They learned that these people have been eating it for thousands of years and big companies have been studying this plant for over thirty years tiring to produce the miracle hoodia diet pill. What the San didn’t know about there little South African cactus is that it scientifically has an ingredient named P57 that mimics glucose in the brain, only 1,000 times stronger, dramatically reducing your hunger.

In the 60 minute show, Correspondent Lesley Stahl traveled to South Africa and meet with a guide that showed her the actual Hoodia Gordonii Succulent plant and how it grows scattered through out the South African desert. I think what had the most dramatic effect on viewers of this sixty minute segment is Lesley Stahl’s hoodia testimonial. She ate a piece of the hoodia gordonii plant in the desert and later commented that she was not hungry that day and that she had no side effects from eating the hoodia plant. With the recent ban on dieting supplements like Ephedra and Phenfen, hoodia was looking very good indeed. A natural appetite suppressant that can reduce a persons calorie intake by 1,000 calories a day with no side effect. Isn’t that every persons dream that is trying to lose weight?

This sixty minutes brought up some other issues about the hoodia plant that are not so rosy, like the initial mishandling of the San People’s right to profits from the export of the hoodia cactus. In the beginning when hoodia was discovered to have appetite suppressing qualities there was no thought given to the fact that the indigenous people may have some claim to hoodia also. Since that time though lawyers looking to protect the rights of the San have stepped in and brokered a deal for them so they will get a share of the profits from Hoodia.

Lesley closed the hoodia hour show with what the future holds for the hoodia plant. She talked with a representative from Phytopharm, the company that holds a patent on the P57 ingredient derived from the hoodia plant. Phytopharm has plans to market a hoodia weight loss product in a couple of years and is contracting with farms in South Africa that will grow the hoodia. She visited one of these hoodia farms which was growing hoodia for export, tasted this hoodia plant and commented that it tasted more bitter than the other hoodia she had sampled. The Agronomist on the farm said there is much yet to learn about growing hoodia. Hoodia grows naturally in the desert and no one has tried to grow crops of hoodia in fields before. He said there were going to be challenges but that he was confident they could keep up with demand.

Will the demand for hoodia actually be sustainable? That is ironically a question that 60 minutes is directly connected with. Because after the show aired many companies thought it was also a good idea to become players in the hoodia marketplace. These companies have contracted with certified hoodia plantations to import hoodia intended to be dried, crushed into powder and capsulated. Since hoodia has a two to three years growing cycle it now may be questionable if the hoodia demand can keep up with the supply. One thing that is certain is that hoodia is a one very wanted plant, what it’s ultimate impact on the world’s obesity problem will be is still unknown.