There are many diet pills that are out in the market that contains various herbal ingredients that aid in weight loss. One of the diet pills that are out in the market is the Hoodia gordonii herbal diet pills. Hoodia diet pills are always thought to be safe and have lesser side effect. Yet, the studies of Hoodia side effects for humans lack sufficient evidence of safety. It lacks further evaluation on the total action of Hoodia gordonii of the human body because there is no known further studies on using Hoodia in humans except on the evidence that it is used by some indigenous tribe men in Africa.

Marketers of hoodia diet pills often claims that Hoodia gordonii diet pills are relatively safe and less side effects because of the evidence of the use of the succulent plant Hoodia gordonii by the San Bushmen in the Kalahari dessert of South Africa.

Hoodia gordonii is found to be used by the indigenous San Bushmen to suppress their appetite during their long trips in the dessert. Because of this fact, many pharmaceutical companies have taken interest on the Hoodia plant because of its active ingredient, the P57 which is responsible for appetite suppression. Since then, Hoodia gordonii has been used in many diet pills around the world because of its efficiency in weight loss.

Yet the benefits of Hoodia gordonii outweigh its risk. The Hoodia diet pill which is widely advertised as safe actually has some serious side effects. Hoodia side effects are said to be potentially dangerous because the P57 content of Hoodia targets one of the most important organ in the body-the Liver. It is said that the P57 ingredient is not easily removed from the body because the liver enzymes cannot inhibit the P57 and it has a high secretion rate. If a person is taking other medications, potential drug to drug interaction may occur which will potentially cause some serious complications. Aside from the liver issues with the P57 content of, Hoodia side effects of appetite suppression may cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Hoodia suppresses the appetite of a person by tricking the brain to send signals to the body that it is not yet hungry. The result of appetite suppression can lead to depletion of blood sugar (because blood sugar is metabolized by the body to convert into energy) and blood sugar depletion is hypoglycemia which can lead to coma or worst, death. This makes Hoodia gordonii dangerous to diabetic patients.

Another Hoodia side effect is suppression oft the thirst mechanism. Again, this is potentially dangerous because the body needs to be constantly replenished with water because the human body is shedding off fluids each moment. Due to the impaired thirst mechanism, the body will soon become dehydrated which will again lead to serious complications and even death.

While Hoodia is proven to be effective in losing weight because of the Hoodia side effect of appetite suppression, can still be unsafe for use because there is not much knowledge gathered on the other side effects of the plant and other actions of its active ingredient P57. Hoodia is not yet approved by the Food and Drugs Administration because of the insufficient evidence and studies about the plant and the safety issues. Still, Hoodia has been widely used and added to many diet pills and many people are still buying Hoodia diet pills without much regard to the potential dangers of Hoodia side effects.