Is Hoodia Worth Buying?
Daniel Andrade
January 08, 2008
A variety of supplements and diet pills are available for the person looking to loose weight. Some of these products work and other weight loss products are a waste of the consumer's money. Sorting out which ones work and which ones do not can be difficult. Most of the over-the-counter appetite suppressants work as advertised as they must pass inspection by the FDA administration for sale in the United States. Herbal supplements do not require such rigid testing and some of them work while others do not. (The placebo affect means that some people will gain the claimed benefit regardless of whether or not the supplement actually does work.)
The jury is still out on whether or not Hoodia products still work. Prominent celebrities such as Oprah have caused these products to soar in popularity, but no hard data has been collected on hoodia itself. The hoodia compound is derived from a relative of the cactus and processed into pill form as supplements or the most recent craze, processed and put into diet lollipops.
The manufacturers claim that hoodia works to suppress the appetite and in many cases offer links to legitimate research of other companies that can be found on the web. The web pages the manufacturers look convincing and are full of medical sounding information that extols the virtues of their product.
Such duplicity is common marketing practice and it is not illegal, because until legitimate research has been conducted about the effectiveness of hoodia as a weight loss product, the manufacturers are not engaging in false advertising. Buying hoodia at the moment is a case of whether or not it works for the buyer and remembering the old Latin phrase caveat emptor. The consumer should be aware of its unproven claims before buying any hoodia product.
Oprah, with her reputation for honesty, makes her a powerful proponent of the product, but Oprah's job is to host a talk show, not to figure out whether or not the claims of the products she advertises for are true. Until research comes back either debunking or affirming the benefits of hoodia from a neutral source, the best bet to see if it works for you is to simply try it. If it works for you, continue to use the product, and if not, you are only out your initial investment and you know not to try it again.
The jury is still out on whether or not Hoodia products still work. Prominent celebrities such as Oprah have caused these products to soar in popularity, but no hard data has been collected on hoodia itself. The hoodia compound is derived from a relative of the cactus and processed into pill form as supplements or the most recent craze, processed and put into diet lollipops.
The manufacturers claim that hoodia works to suppress the appetite and in many cases offer links to legitimate research of other companies that can be found on the web. The web pages the manufacturers look convincing and are full of medical sounding information that extols the virtues of their product.
Such duplicity is common marketing practice and it is not illegal, because until legitimate research has been conducted about the effectiveness of hoodia as a weight loss product, the manufacturers are not engaging in false advertising. Buying hoodia at the moment is a case of whether or not it works for the buyer and remembering the old Latin phrase caveat emptor. The consumer should be aware of its unproven claims before buying any hoodia product.
Oprah, with her reputation for honesty, makes her a powerful proponent of the product, but Oprah's job is to host a talk show, not to figure out whether or not the claims of the products she advertises for are true. Until research comes back either debunking or affirming the benefits of hoodia from a neutral source, the best bet to see if it works for you is to simply try it. If it works for you, continue to use the product, and if not, you are only out your initial investment and you know not to try it again.