You may have heard great things about a new African weight loss secret called Hoodia, how it naturally is able to curb your cravings with no side effects. You then ran down to your local nutrition store thinking you were buying the best weight loss supplement and it was the fastest way to lose weight, only to later be disappointed with the results. You’re not alone, amazing as some dieters say Hoodia is, other dieters say it’s a fake and doesn’t work at all. Does Hoodia work for some people and not for others? To see why some find a hoodia diet pill that works and others don't we first need to ask the question. Did you buy Hoodia that is real? Many times the reason Hoodia does not work is because of the breakdown in Hoodia’s authenticity as it travels from the African desert to your kitchen cabinet?

We know that the source of Hoodia diet pills come from a plant that looks like a cactus in South Africa and has been eaten there for thousands of years by the aboriginal natives. At this point we know for a fact that Hoodia works great, for the San Hoodia is a regular part of their diet and helps them to not be hungry. The San People in the Kalahari Desert eat the Hoodia plant by picking off a finger size piece before a hunting trip or period of time they know they won’t have much food to eat. By consuming the piece of Hoodia they know that they will not be hungry for that day. This is very good if you are living in the desert and the availability of food is very scarce and hard to find.

So what happens between the aborigines in South Africa and you, a dieter in Middle America that is looking for something that will curb your cravings? Does Hoodia work? If you buy Hoodia will it help you lose weight now? It depends on who you ask, some dieters say it is the magic pill and is the fastest way to lose weight with no side effects. Other people will say, “Hoodia does not work, I tried it and it did nothing for me”. How can this be the case one might ask, how is it that one person swears to it and one swears at it? It’s actually no mystery at all if you know what is happening in the Hoodia industry. Hoodia diet pills have gained huge popularity with increased TV and magazine exposure; so far Hoodia has been on CBS 60 minutes, the BBC, CBS News, Oprah Winfrey’s “O” Magazine, ABC News and the NBC Today Show with Katie Couric. Because of this Hoodia news coverage the demand for Hoodia diet pills has greatly increased and with great demand their has been corruption and fraud that has followed. What is currently happening is that many companies are knowingly or unknowingly selling fake hoodia.

Natural Health Report has published a study done by Truth Publishing and Alkemist Pharmaceuticals located at: naturalhealthreport.com/A-Hoodia-Gordonii-exposed.html, the study findings state that eleven out of seventeen brand-name Hoodia supplements tested failed a laboratory analysis of authenticity. Unfortunately in the study they don't say which brands failed but they do say which brands passed.

The following brands passed the independent testing:
* Desert Burn
* Hoodoba Pure
* Dr. Wheeler's Afrigetics
* King Hoodia
* Hoodia Max
* Ethno Africa

Eleven out of seventeen brand names failed to be genuine, to me that is an amazing statistic and says a lot about the Hoodia industry. Looking at these results we can now see why some people are saying Hoodia is great and helps them drop the pounds and others are calling it a diet pill scam. So if you ask the question does Hoodia work? The truth is there are both pure Hoodia diet pills that are authentic, which will give you great results and there are fake Hoodia diet pills that give no results; both are available and what you get will determine what you say about the Hoodia you bought.

We are used to being able to trust what sells in stores and some of these fake Hoodia brands are selling right now in your neighborhood nutritional store. The brand names may or may not be aware of the issue because the problem in authenticity comes at the source of exportation. There are look-a-like Hoodia plants in the African desert that may look like the Hoodia Gordonii variety but don’t produce the same hunger suppressing qualities. These plants are in abundance in the South African desert and can be easy mistaken for the real Hoodia Gordonii cactus. There are people that are combing the desert and collecting these plants and then sell them to Hoodia exporters that are not licensed and certified. Companies that are eager to start selling Hoodia and not so eager to double check that these exporters have certification are the ones that get this product to market. The result is that there is fake hoodia out there that you might get if you don’t do your homework. You need to make sure the company you buy Hoodia from tests their hoodia for authenticity and are properly certified. Safety wise, eating these non-hoodia plants might not hurt you, but you definitely won’t have the appetite suppressing effects of the real Hoodia.

Hoodia does work for many dieters; you just want to make sure you are one of those people. There are reports of Hoodia decreasing people’s appetite by up to 1,000 calories a day and many people swear by its results. Once again, you just need to be very cautious and be able to identify the genuine Hoodia diet pills from ineffective fake Hoodia. The articles linked to the Hoodia topics on menu to your left address many of the issues related to helping you find the best Hoodia possible. If you remember only one thing in this Hoodia article, remember to: BE CAUTIOUS WHEN IT COMES TO HOODIA, NOT ALL HOODIA IS THE SAME!