How can I Be Sure That I am Buying Real Hoodia gordonii?

Unfortunately, it can extremely difficult to differentiate real Hoodia gordonii from products that only claim to contain it

The American Herbal Products Association recently established a policy regarding proper identification of Hoodia gordonii that is consistent with federal labeling regulations (American Botanical Council).

• AHPA has decided that the “standardized common name” (SCN)  is “Hoodia gordonii” and not "Hoodia".  The AHPA SCN is the name that must appear on labels of herbal supplements.

•  Therefore, don't buy products that list "hoodia" as an ingredient-the label must say "Hoodia gordonii".

Millions of dollars are spent on "Hoodia" products every year.  There are a lot of complicated political issues that go along with a plant that is in huge demand but very limited supply

Hoodia gordonii is a rare plant that only grows in Africa.  As such, international trade of this plant is highly regulated.

• CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) has this plant listed in Appendix II.

• This means that while the species is not necessarily on the brink of extinction, all methods of harvesting and trading Hoodia gordonii are controlled at an international level.

• A CITES certificate is required in order to legally export Hoodia gordonii.

The way in which the Hoodia gordonii plant is processed makes a difference. 

• According to researchhoodia.info, many manufacturers grind the entire plant into a powder.  This causes a lot of inert plant parts (the skin, certain plant fibers, etc) to be included in the Hoodia capsule.

• Therefore, the actual amount of active ingredient in Hoodia supplements may be considerably small, possibly even insignificant.    

In 1995, p57 (the proposed active ingredient in Hoodia gordonii) was patented by a British company called Phytopharm, which has the exclusive license for p57 patents.

• Theoretically, any brand of Hoodia sold by Phytopharm should be "pure" and composed of effective amounts of p57. 

• On the other hand, any company that alleges to sell p57 (without permission from Phytopharm) are either misrepresenting their product or are in violation of patent laws.