Hoodia Safety and Hoodia Side Effects
63What about Hoodia Safety? Is Hoodia Safe?
But wait just a second here. What is hoodia anyway? While almost everyone must have heard of hoodia gordonii by now, even if a lot of people keep spelling it hoodia gordinii (just one too many "i"s), there still still seems to be some confusion.
Hoodia is a succulent that grows in the Kalahari desert in southern Africa - actually since we are talking about hoodia for weight loss, it has to be the gordonii variety. Hoodia gordonii is the only variety containing the appetite suppressant that has led to all the fuss. It may look like a cactus but it isn't even though it's got spines and all. But who cares which it is, actually? The important bioactive element in hoodia - the one that suppresses appetite has been named P57 by Phytopharm who have purchased or licensed the patent on the use of hoodia for weight loss and apparently on either the bioactive molecule or the extraction process. Since this is plant and it has been used for thousands of years as an appetite suppressant and the effects have been well known in traditional San Bushman lore, there are some questions about the validity and application of the 'patent'.
Meanwhile, is hoodia safe? Hoodia safety is attested to by it's incredibly long history among the San Bushmen as an integral of their life in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Gathering or hunting food and finding water often required extended trips and the San coped with hunger and thirst using hoodia gordonii. To date hoodia reviews have found no reason to be concerned about hoodia safety.
Authentic hoodia is a 100% natural, organic product and it shoul dbe supported by documentation on it's origin. The documents are known as the C.I.T.E.S. Certificate and the Protected Plant Permit. Authentic hoodia gordonii harvested in the Kalhari also pays royalties to the San Bushmen on each sale. This seems only right since the San were the source of the knowledge and tradition that now allows you to safely lose weight with hoodia - which is what this is all about after all.
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I assume you are referring to side effects from long-term constant use. Hoodia is not for weight maintenance. The supposed negative effects you cite seem to be totally undocumented hearsay. Pfizer reportedly dropped it's pursuit of hoodia when it became clear that producing synthetic P57 in industrial quantities wasn't economically feasible not because of any questions of safety. Very very few herbal remedies or alternative medical treatments of any kind have rigorous double-blind long-term clinical testing to support them. And despite being approved for use, many industrial prescription medicines are extremely dangerous and the long-term side effects are unknown when they are approved. You are absolutely correct that much of the hoodia is either fake, not hoodia gordonii but one of the other types which does not contain "P57", contains parts of the hoodia succulent without an effective level of "P57", etc. It is rare, it takes a long time to grow and it is expensive for those reasons as well as the demand. Anyone who does want to try hoodia needs to find a reputable source with a guaranteed return/refund policy. Whether you want to disregard the use of hoodia gordonii by the San for appetite supression over some period which could reach thousands of years into the past as "anecdotal" and insignificant is up to you (the San did not do any "scientific" tests, but I expect that if hoodia didn't suppress the appetite they'd probably have stopped using it several thousand years ago since they definitely had real world problems that they used hoodia to overcome).
It (the question of testing) is a real interesting one in the areas of alternative treatments, herbal remedies, vitamins and supplements of all kinds. So called "scientific" proof of effectiveness is rare or non-existent as are studies of the effects of long-term use. Much of the testing of industrial prescription medications also lacks long-term use outcomes and there are questions about just how well done many pharmaceutical industry studies are when huge amounts of money depend on positive results. Unless someone can get a real lock on a herbal remedy or an alternative medical treatment, there is just about zero incentive to spend a great deal of money on long-term clinical trials. Look at ephedra - used for thousands of years as a mainstay of traditional Chinese medicine. But genuine herbal medicinalists have never used it for weight loss nor for more than short periods for other problems and almost always in a complex formulaton with other ingredients and at low dosage levels. Ephedra was banned by the FDA on anecdotal evidence - very very strong anecdotal evidence of extremely serious negative effects (including sudden death in some case). However, it is NOT banned for use in traditional Chinese medicine or by herbal medicinalists. (There was a Utah decision that overturned the original ban but that decision was reversed on appeal in March 2007, restoring the FDA ban - there is a Supreme Court appeal against the ban pending). It's fascinating because tobacco is legal despite having a far higher death rate and far more widespread and serious health and economic consequences than ephedra could ever have. Of course, tobacco is not a supplement or remedy (except in certain herbal remedies where as far as I know it's use is legal if probably stupid). People, at some point need to take responsibility for their own decisions - we rarely truly have sufficient scientific proof for ANY action we take.
hoodia fb is fake at its best , i used this before and got no result, i only wish i can get my money back.
I have been using Hoodia PX57 for a little over a week, and it is AMAZING. I pay only $15.99 for a bottle of it at Wal-Mart, so I always buy 2 to keep in my purse, so I am not tempted to overeat fast-food, etc. when on the road. Anyway, if you let it build up in your system, it's effects are INCREDIBLE. I was still hungry the first 2 days of use, but after that it was like WHAM. I actually had to make myself eat food. I always drink a lot of water, too. I think most people who say Hoodia does not work for them just didn't use it long enough to give it a chance to build up in their systems. I am at the point now where it has built up enough in me that I take it twice a day instead of three. Hoodia does work if you buy 100% REAL Hoodia, and give it a chance for at least 5 days before tossing it (and the $$$ you spent on it) in the trash. Hope this helps!
@Danilacey I like your comment better than the article. That's the real low down.
why does it submit these twice. I only clicked once>
Maddie Ruud says:
2 years ago
Hoodia has not been tested enough for us to know what the long-term side effects are, and most of the hoodia on the market is ineffective at best, fake at worst. Check out my own research in my hub, "The Benefits and Side Effects of Hoodia Gordonii."