The 2005 NY Times articles was written 4 years ago and while some parts are still relevant today, other parts of the report need to be re-assessed.
The New York Times questioned the authenticity of the claims that hoodia gordonii companies had made regarding “clinical tests”. Even today, if you were to check most Hoodia websites, you will find that though they make all kinds of claims in their advertising material, they have very little verification, if at all. There are no certificates or test results displayed on their websites.
The NY times mentioned two hoodia products; Pure Hoodia, who “boasted” of an active ingredient, that fooled the brain into thinking the body had eaten, when it had taken no food at all and Hoodoba who claimed their product suppressed appetite, but enhanced your mood and gave you “waves of energy”. NY Times was skeptical about these claims and pointed out that very few physicians supported them. Clinical trials were still underway, and physicians would not recommend a supplement where they felt the benefits were unproven and nobody knew what the health risks could be. Also, as NY Times pointed out, the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii, P57 was known to break down easily in the liver, so how would one know how much hoodia gordonii to take to actively suppress appetite, without the results of clinical trials as a guideline?
Unilever tested 10 different Hoodia products in the USA and only 4 products contained significant amounts of P57. Of the rest, 4 products contained insignificant amounts, and 2 did not contain any P57 at all. Now, 4 years later, the part of the NY Times report that has not changed is that there are even more fake Hoodia supplements on the market today. But, other significant changes have occurred. Today, clinical trials have taken place proving the efficacy of pure hoodia gordonii as an appetite suppressant and there are documents and certificates available to prove the authenticity of hoodia gordonii in the supplement.
UniqueHoodia is one company that has gone a long way to proving the NY Times report wrong. UniqueHoodia provides full certification on their website. They have a CITES certificate, an Organics Annex Certificate and a Certificate of Analysis. In addition to these, they have had their product tested by Alkemist Pharmaceuticals and CNL, both highly reputed laboratories. UniqueHoodia has proved to reduce calorie intake by as much as 2,000 calories a day, with no side effects of any kind. If you want to lose weight – try UniqueHoodia – fresh, safe and pure 100% real hoodia gordonii, backed by full certification.