Hoodia Pills, Liquids and Tablets Oh My!

Unless your reading this from the Kalahari Desert, chances are, you’re not going to find Hoodia Gordonii in its purest and most effective form.  Due to its success in suppressing appetite, drug companies cannot keep up the supply to meet the demand and Hoodia is on an endangered species list.  The exportation is highly controlled and only a few companies have been given the clearance to bring the plant from South Africa to be used in dietary supplements.  So, what are your options for obtaining this increasingly popular weight loss supplement?

As you can imagine, Hoodia is scarce and therefore expensive.  In this “you get what you pay for” market, this point hits home for Hoodia users.

Hoodia Powder comes in two forms.  “Whole plant” powder is what it sounds like and the whole plant is ground into powder. It is the cheapest and considered the least effective form of Hoodia because it contains so much ineffective parts of the plant, such as the skin and sometimes the roots.

The second form of powder is called the “Core” powder in which only the core, the purest form of Hoodia is used.  This is the closest thing to the real deal you will find and it will cost you, but I’m sure it’s worth it.  These powders can easily be added to green tea, coffee or natural juice drinks for easy ingestion.

Hoodia Capsules are another option for those seeking refuge from hunger pangs and sugar cravings.  This is the form most chosen by Hoodia users, probably because it is the easiest to use.  Just pop a pill with a glass of water a couple times a day and forget about it.  Of course, the actual number of pills you take will depend on the strength of the pills and your body’s own ability to metabolize the ingredients.

Liquid Hoodia or Hoodia tincture is another method of using Hoodia.  How the liquid was created was by taking the powdered form and soaking in water and glycerin (or vinegar) mix.  Some other variations of this include soaking the powder in an alcohol and water solution.  You can tell by just reading the label if you are purchasing the non-alcoholic version.  It will be clearly labeled and the ingredients will include vinegar.  Believe it or not, the non-alcoholic version is preferred because it tastes better.

P57 Hoodia Extract is the active ingredient in the Hoodia plant.  Phytopharm, a British pharmaceutical company now has the exclusive patent on P57 and have been working on a way to single out the P57 molecule to use in their supplements.  This is important to know because should they succeed in extracting the P57, the concentrate will be 100% P57 and not a 20/1 ratio. P57 Hoodia will only be available through products made by Phytopharm and their sister company Unilever which owns the SlimFast brand name. The company hopes to have this product out on the market soon!