Hoodia is a succulent plant that looks like a cactus. A member of the milkweed family, hoodia is native to the Kalahari desert in the southern tip of Africa, principally in the nations of South Africa and Namibia. The plant's latex and inner parts are used, with the spines removed.
The San people, native to the Kalahari desert, have used hoodia for millennia to suppress appetite for food and water and to increase energy.1 They cut the spines off the plant and eat the inner portion and drink the white latex.
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