Hoodia Scams and Rip-Offs
Hoodia Trust These Days?
The herbal supplement Hoodia Gordonii has received a tremendous amount press in the past couple of years. It has been featured on the news show 60 Minutes, CNN, Today Show, Oprah and numerous other news stories throughout the globe. With all the extraordinary appetite suppressant qualities surrounding Hoodia and the recent media attention it didn’t take long for diet pill makers to jump on the Hoodia bandwagon.
Hoodia Gordonii is in very short supply
Hoodia Gordonii is just one of many types of Hoodia plants. The lack of an abundant amount of real Hoodia Gordonii hasn’t paused some diet pill marketers from making likely false claims about their products containing 100% pure Hoodia. The reality is that these products either contain little Hoodia that will have little to no weight loss effects.
Because the nutritional supplement industry is virtually unregulated, the FDA and FTC cannot take action against misleading claims due to their limited resources.
Does this mean that all Hoodia products are fake?
No, but be cautious when purchasing your Hoodia product. There are very few companies able to get real Hoodia in large enough quantities. There just isn’t that much farmed Hoodia.
What's in the Hoodia Diet Pills if Not Real Hoodia?
Because of the high demand for South African Hoodia Gordonii, the payoff for natives to find more Hoodia Gordonii results in locals selling other cactus plants that resemble Hoodia in look, feel and texture. With Hoodia Gordonii selling at $225/Kilo to $300/Kilo the race to meet the high demand with little limited supply has created a vacuum for Hoodia native farmers to find and sell wild cactus that are similar to Hoodia Gordonii but do not have its unique appetite suppressant benefits.
With the massive harvesting of wild Hoodia Gordonii, South Africa has now classified Hoodia Gordonii as an endangered species requiring permits and authorization from the local government.
The Importance of Certification and Lab Testing
With so many Hoodia Gordonii products on the market, there needs to be some way of verifying that the Hoodia in your product contains real South African Hoodia. Hoodia Gordonii can be grown anywhere the climate and soil conditions are acceptable, such as parts of Asia, South America and Mexico. The problem with growing hoodia gordonii in these places is that researchers found that the Hoodia grown outside of South Africa did not contain the active appetite suppressing component P57.
Scammers will use Hoodia Gordonii from these places in their products and can legitimately claim that their product contains 100% pure Hoodia Gordonii. Unfortunately, that does nobody any good except for the pill manufacturers, who can buy this inferior Hoodia at a small fraction of the cost of South African Hoodia. Aside from independent lab testing, which can be very costly, the best way to spot the scammers from the legitimate Hoodia product manufacturers is to check for a CITES certificate on the company's website.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) is an international governing body that protects and controls trade in endangered species. Because the Hoodia that contains the active ingredient P57 only grows in South Africa, there is world-wide concern about over harvesting of the Hoodia plant. A supplier must go through an extensive application process and must meet certain standards in order to grow and export Hoodia. Supplement producers importing Hoodia from South Africa are issued CITES certificates which indirectly demonstrate the authenticity of the Hoodia. In other words, look for a CITES certificate on a product's web site, or be wary.
Real Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pills
There are reputable and known sources for acquiring real Hoodia Gordonii. And there are Hoodia diet pills available in North America that contain 100% genuine Hoodia. To learn more, see our top rated products page for our top rated South African Hoodia Gordonii diet pills.