Question #1- Be Sure to ask yourself if the place that you are getting hoodia from allows ongoing, random, anonymous testing of all of their hoodia products. This should be from an independent lab.

Here's why.

Some vendors will proudly display their lot numbers and results from a very respected lab, but the only way that you can be sure that this is indisputable proof of the product's potency is if the company permits random and ongoing, verifiable testing of the actual products that are sold to the public. This testing must be completely verifiable, and this should be done WITHOUT the vendor's exact awareness of whom, where, and when the products to be tested were purchased. The results of each test should be displayed directly on testing laboratories website.

Question # 2: PURITY- Is there an easy way to see if the product is made ONLY from 100% pure South African Hoodia gordonii-with no fillers or additives?

There is a way to determine the purity of the hoodi gordonii. Looking at the label, check under the "Supplement Facts" section on the label. If it declares specifically that there are no additives, this will be apparent by your seeing the word "None" in the "Other Ingredients" section of the label. If there is anything else listed, then it's not pure hoodia.

Sometimes a manufacturer will list the fillers and additives as "Other Ingredients". This is known as the "O.I." trick. If the manufacturer lists the other fillers and additives as "other ingredients"- then they can legally say that the product is true gordonii.

The manufacturers are allowed by the government to use "flow agents" to make the manufacturing process easier.

Using cellulose, silica, magnesium stereate, and other similar ingredients can be avoided easily. However, scammers know that they can simply declare them as "other ingredients", thereby exploiting the big loophole in the law at the consumer's expense.

With the new high compression encapsulation machines, it's not necessary to load up the capsules with fillers and additives- yet still be able to call it "pure". It might cost more to do so, but it's the right thing to do.

Avoid the common "Bait and Switch" practice in which less than reputable vendors spoon-feed the lab a genuine sample, but then sell the public a counterfeit or watered-down product.

Question # 3: CORRECT SPECIES- Does the product claim to be Hoodia gordonii of South African origin or just Hoodia? Of the more than 20 varieties of Hoodia known, only the gordonii species from South Africa has been proven to reduce caloric intake in humans. So-called "Chinese" Hoodia, for example, is fake.

Question #4- What part of the hoodia plant does the product come from? It should be made from the biologically active part of the Hoodia gordonii Succulent. You need to find out if the vender stricly uses the peeled stem from the hoodia gordonii plant.

Never buy Hoodia gordonii from companies using the "whole plant" or anything other than the peeled stems; such a product would automatically contain at least 50% less of Hoodia gordonii's active constituents necessary for effective appetite suppression.

You don't want the root, nor the flowers, nor the bark. The P-57 part of the plant- or "peeled stem" is the part of the hoodia plant that you want.

Question #5: Potency. Are you sure that the hoodia that you are buying is of the highest potency that's possible? Does the company and/or it's farmers cultivate the hoodia patiently for the best potency? This takes atleast 3.5 years before they harvest the stems.

Hoodia milled from immature plants may test "positive" for Hoodia gordonii but lack sufficient P57 to suppress the appetite. Additionally, Hoodia loses its strength when exposed or dried in open sunlight or in kilns above a certain temperature; or when milled above certain microns.