Pure Hoodia

There are many questions about just what constitutes a pure hoodia supplement. The answer to this question is not all that hard, but it does require you to be a smart shopper when searching for a good hoodia supplement.

Exactly what is South African Hoodia Gordonii?

Pure Hoodia gordonii is a small, slow-growing cactus found in South Africa. The plant is used by native Bushmen for a variety of purposes, but the one of most interest to Westerners is how they used the herb before going on long hunting parties. There are long stretches of time when the men are hunting that they have to go without food. They discovered if they ate this small cactus, they didn't feel hungry. Later scientific studies discovered that there is a molecule in hoodia gordonii that shuts off the hunger centers in the brain.

Trust Who?

This unique molecule inside hoodia gordonii has made the plant of interest to pharmaceutical companies, who tried unsuccessfully to get a patent on the active molecule inside the plant. The pharmaceutical companies were very interested in the unique way that hoodia worked, put no one can patent a natural molecule, so they were forced to look elsewhere for ingredients for weight loss drugs. Making sure that you get pure hoodia means making sure it contains this active ingredient and that is only found in hoodia gordonii.

Pure African hoodia comes from only one source and that is the plant called hoodia gordonii. There are many hoodia cactuses, but only one type with the name hoodia gordonii. If the supplement says it has hoodia parviflora, hoodia pedicellata, hoodia pilifera, or any other hoodia that is not hoodia gordonii, then it is not real hoodia and will not help you with weight loss.

The African hoodia gordonii cactus is difficult to grow and harvest, making pure hoodia rare and hard to obtain. Since the plant is in such short supply, it tends to make a supplement containing real hoodia expensive. Because many people look for the cheapest supplement they can buy, many manufactures have turned to shoddy practices to try and sell their product. They will include the other hoodia cactuses in their supplements, even though there is none of the active ingredient in these other hoodia cactuses.

Pure hoodia means you are getting the correct plant, the one that has the appetite disabling ingredient in it, not some fake version of hoodia.

Many manufactures also put other ingredients in their weight loss hoodia supplements. This means that they will put cheaper herbs into the supplement along with the hoodia. This kind of supplement has a diluted form of hoodia. If you want to get the full-strength version of the weight loss supplement, you should look for bottles that have only 100% pure hoodia in the bottle.