The Hoodia Review (Thumbs Down)

If you haven’t noticed lately, it seems that Hoodia is on fire. But, what is this mystery supplement and how can it help you lose weight?

First off, Hoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is also called hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s a type of cactus that grows in South Africa.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, natural forms of hoodia have been shown to help control appetite.  There have been quite a few studies done on hoodia by many different organizations.  It’s found in pill or liquid form.

Hoodia gordonii (which is the only form of hoodia that has shown to effect appetite) is found in Botswana, South Africa, Nambia, and Angola.

The first red flag we see is that the hoodia gordonii cactus takes 5 years to grow before it can be harvested.  Also, since it has been relatively unknown, to “farm” the existing crop found in these countries would dry up the supply very quickly as it is primarily found in the wild.

That takes us to the synthetic forms.

This is interesting.  Not to go into crazy detail, but pharmacutical giant, Phizer (think Viagra, numb nuts) actually sub licensed rights to develop p57, which is the active ingredient found, from Phytopharm (the British company that worked alongside South African scientists to isolate the ingredent) in 1998.

Phizer has since returned the rights.

To me, this tells me that somethings fishy.  If a large pharmaceutical company doesn’t feel like this compound has a good use (think of all of the other “prescription diet pills” that have made it to shelves), it’s a huge red flag.

Maybe since they’ve been sued so much over over weight loss drugs that they see a similar pattern.

Who knows.

All I know is that if you spend $21 million to acquire the rights to something… and you give it back… something isn’t right.

So, if you can’t get a pharm giant to back it, you have to grow it naturally for it to be able to hit the shelves.  Guess what.  Hoodia is difficult to grow.  Again, it takes 4-5 years to harvest and you need heat in excess of 110 degrees (F).

And we haven’t even gotten to why I really don’t like it.

Hoodia “tricks” your brain into thinking that your blood sugar is high enough so that it doesn’t trigger hunger.  Well, here we go again with the starvation diets.  You’re not going to take hoodia forever (mainly because it’s pretty expensive) and eventually, you’ve gonna have to eat.

I’m not going to rant anymore.  If I were you, I wouldn’t take it.  Oh, and by the way, many of the makers and sellers of this supplement are fly-by-night companies.  If you DO want to go against my recommendation, then for heaven’s sake and get it from the Vitamin Shoppe (click picture).  I’ve done the research on the quantity and active ingredients and they are in order.

Many people are reporting that more than a few online retailers are taking money but not delivering product.  Go with an established retailer so you don’t get screwed.

Also, watch out for “cheap” hoodia.  Remember, the supply is low and the demand is high. If it’s real, it’ll be expensive.  If it’s fake, or has less of the active ingredent, it’s cheap.

Be smart.

Like I said, I DON’T RECOMMEND that you take Hoodia, but if you do, know what you are buying.

(Geez, I feel like I’m doing the don’t have sex talk)