There are many weight loss products with hoodia gordonii listed as an ingredient. Due to the media attention received by this new merchandise , health supplement businesses everywhere have added a hoodia gordonii merchandise to their lines. According to independent reports, some of the claims made by these companies can be untrue and some products do not contain the pure hoodia plant extract.

The business which created a sell for weight loss products with hoodia gordonii has not yet released their own product. That business is Phytopharm. Currently partnered with Unilever (makers of Slim Fast and other food products), Phytopharm has been conducting research and attempting to develop and advertise a merchandise using pure hoodia plant extract for over ten months. They announced in late April of 2006 that they had just completed the first phase of a five phase clinical research code and still expect that several many years will pass before their item is available.

In the meantime, media coverage, including reporters traveling to Africa to sample the hoodia gordonii plant, created a advertise for health supplement companies. If eating the pure hoodia plant would suppress the appetite, then products containing the plant in powdered form should accomplish the same thing. Weight loss products with hoodia gordonii are working for some humans and not for others. This is true with many “natural cures”, but a controversy is brewing over whether all of the products that claim to contain hoodia gordonii, actually do. At first, it appeared that this was an selling gimmick created by companies whose products cost more, something to set them above the rest. Statements from a company that sells a item about other businesses selling the same merchandise are sometimes just sales pitches. But, in this case, it appears that there is evidence to support the statements.

The first step in chemical analysis was finding samples of the pure hoodia plant. Hoodia gordonii only grows in areas of southern Africa. It is not favored in botanical gardens or green houses because the blooms have such a strong smell. The smell has commonly been compared to rotting meat. Wild stands of hoodia gordonii have been protected from harvesting by the governments of southern Africa. Cultivation of hoodia gordonii has been difficult. These statements are made by not only the businesses that are currently selling weight loss products with hoodia gordonii, but also by Phytopharm. The lack of sources of pure hoodia plant has led suppliers at some point in the manufacturing process to either substitute something else for hoodia gordonii or reduce the amount of the active ingredient to very low levels.

A non-profit organization called Hoodia gordonii.co.za, based in South Africa, attempts to inform consumers about which weight loss products with hoodia are genuine and which are fake. At this time they have had chemical analyses performed by Alkemists Pharmaceuticals on twelve different products which claim to contain pure hoodia plant in powdered form. According to these results, some of the products contain hoodia gordonii, some contain a small amount of hoodia gordonii and some contain no hoodia gordonii at all. In fact, one business is the subject of a possible class action suit.

Some of the questionable weight loss products with hoodia have appropriate CITES licenses for exporting hoodia gordonii and so one must assume that the error was made as early as the harvesting process. The government of South Africa was concerned that this might be a problem. Identification of the hoodia gordonii plant is apparently difficult, as there are 15 different species of hoodia, but only hoodia gordonii has been studied as an appetite suppressant. In order for consumers to find weight loss products with hoodia gordonii that is genuine, it could be necessary to look for businesses which display chemical analysis reports or are certified by Hoodia gordonii.co.za.

For more data about the pure hoodia plant, visit the Hoodia Info Blog.

Patsy Hamilton is an editor of the Hoodia Info Blog. Visit us at http://hoodiainfo.blogspot.com.