Pure Hoodia - A Guide
Found primerialy in African deserts, Hoodia has shown great potential to aid weight loss. Hoodia resembles cactus, and is bitter in taste. Mainly found in Kalahari Desert, it is a succulent plant with purple flowers that take five years to appear.
Hoodia is a natural appetite suppressant that gives the feeling of being full. For many organisations in the weight loss industry, it is an ideal ingredient. Hoodia is used in many forms such as capsule, powder or liquid. Some of the most common brands that have shown to give good results are Hoodoba, Desert Burn, Hoodia hoodia, and Strictly Health. Hoodia gordonii plus is an advanced appetite suppressant, energy enhancer, fat burner and metabolism booster. To ensure the authenticity of this product, the company needs CITES Certificate and analytical report.
Facts About Pure Hoodia
The demand for hoodia has grown many folds in recent years, and market has been flooded with counterfeit and contaminated products. Unless you actually test the product in a lab, it is nearly impossible to know if these organisations are using pure Hoodia . As hoodia grows only under specific conditions, quantity of pure hoodia available in the market is very limited. Pure hoodia can be quite expensive, and more than 60% of the samples that are submitted for verification and testing fail. There might be many which do not even come for testing. Hence, more than 80% of hoodia products being sold in the market are either adulterated, or do not contain any hoodia at all. Unless genuine and pure hoodia is made available, it is very difficult to do any research on its effectiveness on weight loss, and no conclusion can be drawn about its side effects.
On Internet, there are hundreds of companies claiming to sell pure hoodia products, and caution the buyers to not buy the competitor’s ineffective products. In 2004, Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species imposed control on the trade of hoodia. You need to obtain a permit to legally grow Hoodia and the plant can only be grown and harvested once you have this permit. But, it has been found that many companies use the stolen or counterfeit CITES certificates on their sites.
The main ingredient that is active in Hoodia is P57, and this molecule is responsible for convincing the brain that you are full. This leads to less consumption of food, and ultimately, loss of weight. Though, scientists and manufactures claim that there are apparently no side-effects associated with pure hoodia, it still has a long way to go. More studies and researches need to be done before any claims can be made.
