Sheesh! Is half the world overweight? I was kicking back on the living room couch this evening, soaking up a bit of holiday season television when I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of weight loss commercials. It seemed like there was no end to the onslaught of advertisements for a gamut of weight loss schemes. One after one, they hawked their diet plans. Do any of these things really work?

I’ll be the first to admit I have a few pounds to shed.

Okay, so maybe it’s more than a few. For arguments sake, lets call it twenty five pounds.

Okay, okay … lets make it thirty pounds.

The barrage of advertisements from NutriSystem, eDiets.com, Jenny Craig, and you name it is hard to ignore. I’m subconsciously loosening my belt buckle and reaching for my wallet. I’ve already invested in a bunch of exercise equipment that absolutely excels at collecting dust.

But those shiny new machines from New Balance and Bowflex? Whoowee, I’ll bet if I hooked up with one of those new-fangled exercise monster machines, I’d be a Greek God in no time flat.

And then there’s this Hoodia thing. What the heck is that? A cactus-like succulent only found in South Africa? Hey, if it works for the bushmen, maybe it’ll work for me …

Hoodia’s a weight loss breakthru, or they say … but who’s to believe a mere advertisement?

This MSNBC article on Hoodia isn’t exactly convincing. On the other hand, this article about weight loss merits of Hoodia from the BBC mentions that megapharm Pfizer (at one point) acquired the rights to develop and market products based on the mysterious P57 molecule found in Hoodia. (Check out the disclaimer at the end of the article.) UK-based Phytopharm is doing the primary research on the Hoodia plant. It’s unclear how or if Pfizer is still involved.