The secret of Hoodia
The secret of Hoodia Gordonii is that it can actually fool the brain into not being hungry. Many experts believe it achieves this desirable result by mimicking the effect of glucose on the brain. Instead of hunger, one feels little or no desire to eat. Researchers have isolated a molecule called P57, believed to be the active constituent in Hoodia which curbs hunger. Others may argue that there are actually several molecules involved, but either way, these molecules, called oxypregnane steroidal glycosides are considered responsible for Hoodia’s powerful effect on the brain.

Hoodia - weight loss recipe from nature
Repeated attempts to create synthetic steroidal glycosides have failed to duplicate Hoodia’s amazing appetite suppressing effect, supporting the notion that the only source for these active molecules is the Hoodia Gordonii plant itself. Although high-quality powders and extracts offer excellent results, it is important to make sure that your Hoodia source is reliable. When combined with other supplements that assist with weight control, such as Green Tea, Hoodia successfully suppresses appetite, controls weight, and increases energy, without any synthetic or stimulant substances.

Pheromones From the Greek: " To Carry Excitement"

People have known for centuries that animals communicate with biochemical cues understood only by others of their own kind. The cues may warn of danger, flag the presence of food, mark territorial boundaries, or indicate sexual readiness. These biochemical messages are called pheromones. In animals this perceptional sense complements sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

The term pheromone was first used in the l950s to describe the essence which female silkworm moths release into the air to entice males to mate with them. Pheromone, from the Greek words phero "I carry," and hormone "to excite," literally means "I carry excitement." In insects and simpler animals, pheromones govern behavior very predictably: one whiff and the animal carries out "orders" automatically and immediately. Bees whose hive is threatened will answer the call of a pheromone that commands them to swarm and sting in concert, thus driving away the intruder. A few molecules of a pheromone floating past a male hamster's nose will send him on a frenzied hunt for the female ready to receive his amorous advances. Animals acting out pheromone orders can make almost comical mistakes. When an ant dies, its body gives off a "funeral" pheromone to signal the "pallbearers" to remove the corpse from the colony. If one of the pallbearers picks up the scent of death in the process of disposing of the body, he may find himself the target of ejection.

How Science Detected Human Pheromones

As in a good mystery, the elements of the human pheromone story lay strewn about in puzzling bits and pieces for about a century until scientists, using deductive powers like those of Sherlock Holmes, made sense of the clues. Back in the early eighteenth century, a Dutch surgeon named Ruysch had identified a small receptacle in the nose called the vomeronasal organ (VNO).

This structure has also been called "Jacobson's organ" in medical literature after a nineteenth century Danish surgeon who had also described it. In any case, no one knew what function this organ performed.

No great increase of curiosity about the human VNO followed. One prominent neuroanatomist, writing in the 1930s, suggested that the human VNO was best thought of as an evolutionary relic, a nonfunctioning piece of leftover anatomical equipment. No one challenged this view for another 50 years. The story picks up again in the late 1950s when German chemist Adolph Butenandt and two colleagues first suggested the term "pheromone" for a substance secreted by an animal that affects the behavior of other animals of the same species.

At the same time, an anatomist named Dr. David Berliner was investigating the composition of human skin. He found a convenient supply of skin cells by scraping them off casts removed from the broken legs of skiers who'd had accidents on the mountain slopes near his laboratory.

As he worked in the lab with substances he had extracted from the skin cells, Berliner noticed a curious phenomenon. Whenever he left open certain vials containing extracts, his own feelings and those of other researchers in his lab seemed to change. People became warmer and friendlier. When he capped the flasks and put them away, the lab staff's testy behavior resumed.

Though intrigued by the possibility that these extracts had something to do with the outbreaks of camaraderie, Berliner had not yet heard of the recent discovery of insect pheromones and did not have the time then to pursue the question further.

By 1985, the mystery of the function of the VNO in animals was becoming clearer. The work of Drs. Winans, Wysocki. Meredith and other neuroscientists had shown that the VNO served as a sensory receptor organ for the species-specific pheromones of many terrestrial vertebrates.

In 1989, Dr. Berliner was finally able to return to his experiments. He methodically went about checking out his theory that the substances he had identified might be human pheromones. He determined the chemical structure of the pheromones and, with the help of colleagues, duplicated the molecules.

To confirm his hypothesis about the pheromones, he needed to know whether humans had receptors for these substances in a VNO, how they worked, and how pheromones affected people. He instituted collaborations with other scientists to help map out these unchartered anatomical territories.

To find out more about the VNO in humans, he turned to former associate Dr. Larry Stensaas of the University of Utah, an internationally known neuroanatomist. After months of investigation, Stensaas confirmed that the human VNO had similar anatomical characteristics as the VNO of other mammals, thus challenging what had been the prevailing view of the VNO as a vestigial relic. It seems that a neural network is in place for a "sixth sense," totally independent from that of smell.

Does everyone have this organ? Supporting evidence came from two sources. Electron microscopist Dr. David Moran of the University of Colorado, who specialized in analyzing cells involved in taste and smell, searched for the tiny pits in the nasal cavity leading to the VNO and asked colleagues to do the same. They examined the noses of two hundred people and located the structure in every person. Berliner also asked a colleague, Dr. Jose Garcia-Velasco, a plastic surgeon specializing in nasal surgery, to look for the VNO in his patients. Garcia-Velasco examined a thousand patients and found the VNO nestled near the cartilage that forms the nasal septum in all normal subjects.

But how does this sixth sense work? If it operated anything like our other chemosenses, namely, taste or smell, then the answer would be found in a pattern of activity triggered when "receptor" cells detect the correct molecules.

He outfitted the nasal cavities of his subjects with an apparatus that measured electrical responses of the VNO as small amounts of different substances were delivered to the human VNO. Dr. Monti-Bloch tested four substances: plain air; synthesized human pheromones; a solution without pheromones; and a fragrant, non-pheromone clove-essence mixture. Monti-Bloch used a double-blind procedure, so that neither the subject nor the doctor could be influenced by knowing which one of the several substances was released into the nose.

A small probe measured the electrical response of the VNO. The result? The VNO reacted only when the pheromone solutions were released into the nose. The VNO did not react when any other of the substances were introduced into the nasal cavity. Monti-Bloch's conclusion was that the synthesized human pheromones triggered a reaction in the VNO, where other substances did not.

Monti-Bloch repeated the experiment, measuring the response of the olfactory organ in the nose. This time, only the clove essence triggered a reaction.

The two experiments confirmed that there are two sensory systems in the nose, each of which is stimulated by a different class of molecules; they function, in other words, as distinct sense organs.

During the laboratory sessions, the subjects sometimes spoke spontaneously about their feelings. Women said they felt warm, comfortable, open, and at ease. Men said they felt friendlier, and more comfortable.

Based on these discoveries, Erox has created two fragrances, REALM WOMEN and REALM MEN. They are the only fragrances that contain human pheromones duplicated in the laboratory and have been shown to stimulate the human vomeronasal organ. Those who wear them may find themselves and those around them responding not only with their sense of smell, but also with this relatively unexplored "sixth sense" for a richer, fuller sensation of pleasure.

Article Taken from Realm.de