Hoodia Gordonii may look like a cactus but it is actually classified as a succulent. A succulent that has a family of over 13 varieties.
This is where the dupe gets more complicated.
There may be 13 types of Hoodia, but only Hoodia Gordonii contains the P57 molecule that is renowned for suppressing your appetite. No other Hoodia plant contains it, yet the number of supplements that contain the wrong Hoodia plant is incredible.
And their cover-up is pretty simple too. Read the word Hoodia, and most consumers we interviewed automatically thought this was an abbreviation of Hoodia Gordonii.
But read only ‘Hoodia’ on the label, and this vagueness is probably a sign that their supplement is made from either multiple Hoodia plants or a different one altogether.
More astounding was the fact that many companies don’t even realise they are using the wrong Hoodia.
Following a study by Alkemist Pharmaceuticals, they discovered of the 80% they found to be fake; the majority of these companies honestly thought they had real Hoodia Gordonii. They had been duped too.
This might explain why these companies willing submitted their supplements to be tested in the first place.
Because who would willingly let their products be recognised as a fake? No one we know.