Although there has always been a need for diet pills, after the ban on ephedra, the market was ripe for another new weight loss supplement.

Most of hoodia's popularity comes from the fact that the San Bushmen a tribe from the Kalahari Desert, trusted and relied a hoodia diet long before it reached the shelves of supermarkets or websites on the Internet. They used it to ward hunger pangs and dehydration during long hunting journeys. These people were said to have carved off the stem and eaten the bitter-tasting plant.

Hoodia gordonii is actually a succulent although it grows typically like most cacti with green fluid filled stems so is easily confused with the cactus as it resembles one so evidently.

It takes approximately 5 years before hoodia gordonii's lilac flowers appear before the plant is finally ready to be harvested and manufactured into hoodia diet pills.

The only active ingredient identified in hoodia recognized to date is steroidal glycoside and has been called “p57″. Studies have concluded thus far, only hoodia gordonii is thought to contain p57.