Pure Hoodia

19Jun/08Off

Pure Hoodia

Hoodia gordonii extract - is this pure hoodia?

I'm curious to know if the extract means pure hoodia. Does anyone know?

Not at all. It depends how the extract was made. Extracts are made by soaking the powdered form of hoodia gordonii and extracting its active ingredients into a liquid solution. The problem is, not all hoodia powder is created equal.

There are two types of hoodia powder - whole plant hoodia powder and concentrated "core" hoodia powder. Whole plant hoodia powder is when the entire plant - the roots, skin, fiber, etc. are dried and grounded into powder. This is the cheapest and least effective hoodia gordonii powder.

Concentrated core powder is where they peel the aerial stems, dry them, and then grind them up into powder. This is the most expensive, but the most effective and most "pure" hoodia gordonii.

The reason there is such a big difference is because the active ingredient in the hoodia gordonii plant (P57) is only found in the core of the aerial stems. The rest of the plant is just filler. So whole plant powder is mostly filler with very little of the active ingredient. That's why it is so cheap (and why it's not as effective).

The other issue is that most of the hoodia extracts on the market today are fake - meaning they don't contain ANY of the active ingredient found in hoodia gordonii. In other words, the extract is made from a different hoodia variety or no hoodia at all! Because hoodia isn't regulated, companies can get away with just about anything (although that may be changing soon as the FTC is cracking down).

The bottom line is this, not all extracts are "pure" hoodia. The only "pure" hoodia extracts are those made with concentrated core powder. I've provided a link below to an article that explains the different types of hoodia and which brands use concentrated core powder to make their extracts.

Best of luck to you.

Travis