The Great Hoodia Robbery
At the height of the craze, experts estimated that 80% of "Hoodia" products contained zero Hoodia gordonii. Here's how they did it.
The Supply vs. Demand Math
Real Hoodia gordonii takes years to mature in specific desert conditions. When the diet craze hit in the mid-2000s, the demand was instantaneous and massive.
There was simply not enough plant material on Earth to fill the millions of bottles being sold. So, unscrupulous manufacturers filled the gap with... everything else.
Common Adulterants
1. Prickly Pear Cactus
Cheap, abundant, and looks somewhat similar when dried. It's safe, but it's not Hoodia and doesn't contain P57.
2. Sawdust & Fillers
Some lab tests revealed capsules packed with literal sawdust, rice flour, or other inert organic matter.
3. Spiked Ingredients
The most dangerous fake. Manufacturers would add illegal appetite suppressants (like Sibutramine) to inert powder so the customer would "feel it working."
Red Flags Checklist
- "Proprietary Blend": Hides the actual amount of Hoodia (usually dust) behind cheaper ingredients.
- "20:1 Extract": Often a meaningless marketing term used to justify a tiny amount of actual powder.
- Unbelievably Cheap: Real, CITES-certified Hoodia is expensive to grow and export. If it's $10, it's fake.
- "Miracle" Language: Reputable sellers don't use words like "melt fat" or "instant results."
The CITES Certificate Trick
Because Hoodia is an endangered species, it requires a CITES certificate to be exported from South Africa.
Scammers would often photocopy a single legitimate CITES certificate and use it to cover thousands of shipments of fake powder. Just seeing a certificate image on a website proves nothing about the bottle in your hand.
References & Sources
- (2006). Authentication of Hoodia gordonii using HPTLC and HPLC . Journal of AOAC International.