various Unilever foods and beverages. These new
products were expected to reach the market in 2008.
Meanwhile, in 2004, hoodia received high profile
media coverage when60 Minutesreporter Leslie Stahl
visited a South African hoodia plantation, ate some of
the plant, and declared on television that it had kept
her from feeling hungry all day without any side
effects. Stahl’s report stimulated interest among the
public in hoodia as a diet aid. Hoodia supplements
began to be advertised heavily, especially over the
Internet.Health claims
Manufacturers of products containing hoodia
claim that it reduces or eliminates the desire to eat
and drink by tricking the brain into believing that the
body does not need food andwater. This claim is
made only forHoodia gondoniiand not the other 12
species of hoodia. Hoodia/P57 is available primarily in
capsules of various strengths, and can also be added to
foods such as diet bars, diet shakes, and lollipops.
Hoodia is considered a dietary supplement in the
United States. The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) regulatesdietary supplementsunder the 1994
Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act
(DSHEA). At the time the act was passed, legislators
felt that because many dietary supplements like
hoodia come from natural plant sources and have
been used for hundreds of years in herbal and folk
healing, these products did not need to be as rigor-
ously regulated as prescription and over-the-counter
drugs used in conventional medicine.
Under the terms of DSHEA, hoodia is regulated
in the same way that food is regulated. Like food
manufacturers, manufacturers of products containing
hoodia do not have to prove that it is either safe or
effective before their products can be sold to the pub-
lic. Instead, the burden of proof falls on the FDA to
show that the supplement is either unsafe or ineffective
before the supplement can be restricted or banned.
Information about a dietary supplement’s safety and
effectiveness is normally gathered only after people
using the product develop health problems or com-
plain that the product does not work.
Hoodia is a relative newcomer to the world of diet
supplements and has not been well studied in humans.
The claim that hoodia helps people to lose weight is
controversial because:
The amount and strength of hoodia in dietary sup-
plements is not standardized and a wide range of
doses are used.Few animal studies have been done on hoodia, and it
is not possible to verify that hoodia will have the
same effect in humans as it does in laboratory
animals.
The only human studies have a very small sample
size.
The results of human studies have not been published
in peer-reviewed journals or duplicated by independ-
ent scientists.
Most hoodia studies have sponsored by Phytopharm
and others who have a financial interest in obtaining
positive results.
One hoodia study done at Brown University Med-
ical School injected P57 directly into the brain of rats.
The rats did eat less and lose weight. However,
humans take hoodia by mouth in much smaller quan-
tities, so the results of the rat study are not necessarily
going to be seen in humans. Other human studies have
had fewer than 10 participants who have taken hoodia
only for short periods.The future of hoodia
In the United States, dietary supplements are
required to be clearly labeled with the word ’’supple-
ment.‘‘ In addition, the label must show the volume or
weight of the contents, the serving size, a list of dietary
ingredients and nondietary ingredients (e.g. artificial
color, binders, fillers, flavorings), the name of the
manufacturer, packer, or distributor, and directions
for use. If the supplement is an herb, such as hoodia,
the label must contain its scientific name.
RealHoodia gondoniiis expensive and in very
short supply. Several independent laboratories have
tested products claiming to contain hoodia. About
half the products contained no hoodia at all and others
contained much less than the label claimed. The lack
of hoodia in weight-loss products claiming to contain
the herb has lead to lawsuits. New Jersey and Califor-
nia have both sued the manufacturers of TrimSpa’s
X32 hoodia product that was marketed by the now
deceased celebrity spokesperson Anna Nicole Smith.
Other lawsuits are likely to follow as investigations
prove that other hoodia weight-loss products contain
no real hoodia. Many Web sites promoting hoodia
appear to contain false testimonials and inaccurate
or false information about scientific results of hoodia
studies. In March 2006, the independentConsumer
Reportsmagazine investigated hoodia supplements
and declared that it could not recommend hoodia as
a weight-loss product.Hoodia