Hoodia Scams
As soon as the news of Hoodia grabbed the attention of the media and
the World ... the scam artists jumped on the bandwagon. So how do you
know when you are being faced with a Hoodia scam?
There are actually two ways to look at this ... How to spot
a Hoodia scam, and How to spot a genuine Hoodia product.
If you read all the articles up to here, you will already have the main
tools for spotting a genuine Hoodia product. But even so, let's pinpoint
some of the common danger signals when you're about to buy some Hoodia.
There's no such thing as Cheap 100% Hoodia
... sorry!
There is no such thing as cheap genuine pure Hoodia powder. That's the
bottom line. If it's cheap it's the result of one of the following:
- It's genuine Hoodia, but a 20:1 (or 15:1 or 10:1) botanical
extract. What's a botanical extract? Well it's completely
different from what Phytopharm and Unilever are working on which
is an extract of the active P57 in Hoodia. That is what they have
leased the patent on (held by the CSIR), and it would be illegal
for anyone else to sell it.
A botanical extract - After the Hoodia is harvested it is
dried. The difference in weight before and after drying is shown as
a ratio such as 20:1 (the most common for Hoodia), where 20lbs of undried
Hoodia equals 1lb of dry Hoodia powder.
What some Hoodia products do is use this 20:1 ratio to claim their
product has say 400mg a capsule, when actually it only has 20mg of
20:1 Hoodia powder.
This is actually not illegal and standard practice - so they aren't
doing anything wrong. The problem is most people don't know this, so
when they see a seemingly expensive Hoodia product claiming to be 'full
powder' or similar, they don't quite understand the difference.
When you actually work it though, the more expensive full powder Hoodia
product, works out so much cheaper as you're getting up to 20 times
more Hoodia per capsule.
Also, the 20:1's will have much less of an effect than the real full
powder products.
- It's only the 'heart' of the Hoodia that has any appetite
suppressant (P57). The skin, spines etc have no benefits
to offer. Some companies use the whole plant, skin and all claiming
it to be 100% Hoodia - It's most definitely not as the skin and spine
weigh in heavier than the 'heart'.
- It's not South African. The ONLY Hoodia to have
been analyzed and tested is the Hoodia from Southern Africa (South
Africa, Namibia, Botswana), specifically the Kalahari desert.
- Some companies have set up Hoodia plantations in Texas, China
and Greece. That sounds okay - why not? After all Hoodia
is Hoodia - isn't it?
That's the point, we don't know.
Also, some companies are importing the 'foreign' Hoodia in to South
Africa, then re-exporting to the United States and claiming it as genuine
because it has a CITES issued in South Africa! Even a genuine CITES
can't always be trusted.
- It's just not Hoodia! Sorry to say, but some Hoodia
products just are not Hoodia. How can you tell (apart from the price?
The answer further down this page).
Watch out for ...
- Supposed Hoodia Gordonii 'Consumer'
or 'Review' type web sites. We know of at least
two web sites that claim to be independent 'reviewers' of Hoodia
Gordonii supplements. But a small amount of research will reveal
that one is operated by a supplement manufacturer (with their label
coming at the top of the list). The other is run by a group of supplement
manufacturers who again list their own sites before other so called
'authorized' web sites.
Also, some of these sites are just a cover for 'Affiliates' who are
promoting only the products on which they get paid commissions. Now
there's nothing wrong in promoting a product you believe in - and nothing
wrong in being an affiliate. What is wrong and deceiving is creating
a fake review site just to be able to push only the products you can
make money on - with the highest paying one at number 1!
The absolute best recommendation for any product is 'word of mouth'.
If that's not possible, visit some trustworthy and established forums
or blogs. If that's not possible, the next best thing is to only buy
from companies that give 100% money back guarantees - at least you
can try it out and see for yourself.
How to Guarantee Yourself Genuine and Pure Hoodia ...
Well it's in bold on the home page ... and I'll elaborate on it here:
There is only one test, licensed from the company that discovered
how Hoodia works - Phytopharm - that guarantees genuine potent Hoodia.
Only two companies have the rights to use this laboratory
test ...
Impossible to fake, a pass result from Alkemists Pharmaceuticals or
Chromodex is the ONLY way to absolutely guarantee that
you are getting pure genuine Hoodia Gordonii.
The Alkemists Pharmaceuticals test also has a photo of the
product on one of the test result pages, plus has the batch
number on all the test result pages.
This mean once you have received your product you can check the batch
number printed on the bottle against the batch number printed on the
test results.
Yes, CITES documentation shows that it has been legally exported from
Southern Africa. But CITES documents have been faked, plus the Hoodia
could be swapped - and how do you know whether that specific CITES
paperwork relates to the Hoodia you bought?!
The only way to know whether the Hoodia you have is to insist
on test results from one of these two companies.
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