Hoodia for weight loss...

60 Minutes, the BBC, the Today Show, and much more have all given the spotlight to the underlying question: can hoodia slim you down?

This massive media exposure has led to a booming industry in hoodia based products, whether they be pure hoodia, or hoodia as just one of the ingredients and then combined with metabolism boosters, such as green tea or garcina cambogia.

But before you rush off to buy a hoodia product to try out, you should understand a bit about the history of this amazing plant and what studies have shown so far with respect to hoodia for weight loss.

Knowing these facts will help you navigate the hoodia product maze out there and buy the best product you can for your money and avoid the phony ones and outright scams.

1. There are many kinds of hoodia plant. But only the hoodia gordonii species contains an active ingredient that helps suppress your appetite. Because the demand for hoodia gordonii is far outstripping the supply, some hoodia sellers are using deceptive but marketing savvy ploys such as advertising their products as "pure hoodia" even though it may be made from a different hoodia plant than the hoodia gordonii.

2. Although many companies will claim their hoodia products can slim you down, the only thing that has been proven in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies so far is the P57 molecule.

P57 is the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii that was isolated. It was licensed to a pharmaceutical company named Phytopharm that conducted a study using it. In the study, morbidly obese people using P57 ate on average of 1,000 less calories per day than the placebo using group. They also experienced a statistically significant drop in body fat.

Clearly, this is the reason why so many people think hoodia for weight loss is the new savior for the obese and people looking to slim down.

3. What's important to remember, however, is that many companies are jumping on the bandwagon of this study and saying yes to the question: can hoodia slim you down, even when it hasn't been proven for their particular product.

On the other hand, this doesn't mean their products don't work. Presumably, as long as their products are sourced and made from genuine hoodia gordonii, it should also contain some of the active ingredient in it as well.

But, beware of product claims nonetheless....because the more the demand escalates for hoodia for weight loss, the more outlandish the product claims are becoming.

4. Up to 40% of the hoodia gordonii plant contains no active ingredient. These include such things as the plant's flowers, leaves, skin, and other fibrous material. Only the core of the plant has the good stuff.

Therefore, be cautious about any company simply advertising "made from whole hoodia plant" because you may be paying for a lot of worthless fillers.

Although this isn't as bad as the outright scam tactic of claiming "pure hoodia" if the hoodia isn't hoodia gordonii, such products using a lot of the worthless fillers obviously will lead to much more disappointment when it comes to hoodia for weight loss.

In conclusion, hoodia is an extremely interesting ancient plant that has been used for thousands of years but just beginning to catch on to the Western world.

So can hoodia slim you down? Yes! But only if you buy a real product and avoid the many subpar ones.