Hoodia gordonii is a type of succulent plant that resembles a cactus, and is known to have suppress a person’s appetite and thus help with losing weight. It's sold in capsule form, and as a liquid or in tea form. The hoodia cactus is found in the semi-deserts of Africa and grows in clumps of green stems. It usually takes five years before it can be harvested. From the twenty types of hoodia, only the gordonii variety has the appetite suppressant. To the world, hoodia is a new discovery – but for the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert, hoodia has long been part of their food. There really isn’t much published research on hoodia, but one study conducted at Brown University found that the hoodia’s steroidal glycosides fool the brain into thinking that there's an adequate supply of energy in the form of blood sugar, and therefore doesn’t doesn’t signal the body to eat. Be careful about some hoodia information in the internet After the buzz on hoodia, drug manufacturers claiming to sell genuine hoodia has congested the Internet. In fact, fake hoodia diet pills have been found found to contain sawdust, combined with roots of some unknown plants. So be very careful. Also, beware of companies who try to sell hoodia by claimimg that other hoodia products are inferior to their own – there have been no published reports indicating that one hoodia diet pill product is more effective than the rest. Hoodia diet pills are effective, but expensive Hoodia diet pills are expensive for the reasons mentioned above – it usually takes five years before a hoodia plant can be harvested, and it's only found in Africa. It's also quite difficult to grow; in addition to the required four to five years waiting time, it also requires very high temperatures to grow. This explains why it's so costly. The proper dose of hoodia Most companies put a standard recommended dose on the bottle, but there are also cases where people may need more (or less) than the recommended amount to achieve the desired effect. In fact ,some people who are already using hoodia say that they need at least 1,200 milligrams per day to get the result that they want. It would be wise to consult your doctor regarding the correct dosage of hoodia, since factors like weight, diet, lifestyle and metabolism may have an effect on the size dosage that a person needs to take.