AUTHENTIC
HOODIA?
Such is
the demand for Hoodia in the world today
that all Hoodia plants are
now protected species in the countries of
southern Africa. Furthermore, their status
as protected species is recognised by
CITES, the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora. This means
that no one can trade in Hoodia without a
CITES permit, the importer as well as the
exporter being required to ensure that
a CITES permit has been issued.
This
measure is being vigorously enforced with
the result that authentic Hoodia Gordonii
is now one of the most difficult to
obtain commodities in the world. Because
growing Hoodia is a long process due to
the length of time it takes to reach
maturity, there is only a limited supply
available in the short term and this at a
time when demand has soared. However,
there is about 3 times the Hoodia being
sold in Hoodia supplements today than
could possibly be made from the total
amount of Hoodia Gordonii being harvested
and exported. So how can this be
possible?
The
first answer to this question is that
some products on the market described as
Hoodia or Hoodia Gordonii are in reality
derived from other species of Hoodia,
rather than the genuine Hoodia Gordonii
plant as favoured by the Kalahari
Bushmen. Since there are over 20 species
of Hoodia, some of these other plants are
in effect being used as substitutes for
the real thing, but unfortunately there
is no evidence that they have any
appetite suppressing effects. Buyer
beware!
The
second answer to the question is that
some products on the market described as
Hoodia or Hoodia Gordonii are not derived
from the genuine Hoodia Gordonii plant
known to the Kalahari Bushmen, because
they are not derived from the Kalahari at
all. One way of overcoming the limitation
in the supply of genuine Hoodia is to
grow Hoodia plants in other locations,
China and Mexico being the most common
alternatives to the true habitat of the
Hoodia. Chinese or Mexican Hoodia not
only overcomes the shortage of genuine
Hoodia but costs only a fifth of the
price, but sadly only the genuine African
Hoodia plant has been shown to have a
significant appetite suppressing effect.
Again, buyer beware!
The
final answer to the question is that some
products on the market described as
Hoodia or Hoodia Gordonii are genuine in
the sense that they have real Hoodia
Gordonii in them, but the Hoodia has been
mixed with other herbs or miscellaneous
ingredients in order to reduce the amount
of Hoodia required to fill the size of
capsule being sold. A certain quantity of
pure Hoodia is obviously not comparable
to the same quantity of Hoodia mixed with
other items, although it probably costs
less. Once more, buyer beware!
In
conclusion, the scarcity of authentic
Hoodia Gordonii combined with the
steepling demand for it has resulted in a
bigger market for Hoodia products in the
short term than can be supplied with the
genuine Hoodia available. This has led to
a scramble to find Hoodia alternatives,
Hoodia substitutes and ways of ekeing out
Hoodia, which means that some of the
Hoodia products on the market today are
inevitably not the real thing. They may
be called Hoodia or even Hoodia Gordonii,
but they are not derived from the Hoodia
Gordonii species, or they are not grown
in Africa at all, or they do not contain
Hoodia which is 100% pure.
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