Can Hoodia Slim you Down?
Hoodia for weight loss...
60 Minutes, the BBC, the Today Show, and much more have all
given the spotlight to the underlying question: can hoodia slim
you down?
This massive media exposure has led to a booming industry in
hoodia based products, whether they be pure hoodia, or hoodia as
just one of the ingredients and then combined with metabolism
boosters, such as green tea or garcina cambogia.
But before you rush off to buy a hoodia product to try out, you
should understand a bit about the history of this amazing plant
and what studies have shown so far with respect to hoodia for
weight loss.
Knowing these facts will help you navigate the hoodia product
maze out there and buy the best product you can for your money
and avoid the phony ones and outright scams.
1. There are many kinds of hoodia plant. But only the hoodia
gordonii species contains an active ingredient that helps
suppress your appetite. Because the demand for hoodia gordonii
is far outstripping the supply, some hoodia sellers are using
deceptive but marketing savvy ploys such as advertising their
products as "pure hoodia" even though it may be made from a
different hoodia plant than the hoodia gordonii.
2. Although many companies will claim their hoodia products can
slim you down, the only thing that has been proven in
double-blind, placebo-controlled studies so far is the P57
molecule.
P57 is the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii that was
isolated. It was licensed to a pharmaceutical company named
Phytopharm that conducted a study using it. In the study,
morbidly obese people using P57 ate on average of 1,000 less
calories per day than the placebo using group. They also
experienced a statistically significant drop in body fat.
Clearly, this is the reason why so many people think hoodia for
weight loss is the new savior for the obese and people looking
to slim down.
3. What's important to remember, however, is that many companies
are jumping on the bandwagon of this study and saying yes to the
question: can hoodia slim you down, even when it hasn't been
proven for their particular product.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean their products don't work.
Presumably, as long as their products are sourced and made from
genuine hoodia gordonii, it should also contain some of the
active ingredient in it as well.
But, beware of product claims nonetheless....because the more
the demand escalates for hoodia for weight loss, the more
outlandish the product claims are becoming.
4. Up to 40% of the hoodia gordonii plant contains no active
ingredient. These include such things as the plant's flowers,
leaves, skin, and other fibrous material. Only the core of the
plant has the good stuff.
Therefore, be cautious about any company simply advertising
"made from whole hoodia plant" because you may be paying for a
lot of worthless fillers.
Although this isn't as bad as the outright scam tactic of
claiming "pure hoodia" if the hoodia isn't hoodia gordonii, such
products using a lot of the worthless fillers obviously will
lead to much more disappointment when it comes to hoodia for
weight loss.
In conclusion, hoodia is an extremely interesting ancient plant
that has been used for thousands of years but just beginning to
catch on to the Western world.
So can hoodia slim you down? Yes! But only if you buy a real
product and avoid the many subpar ones.