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Truth about the Hoodia diet scam |
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Unsolicited comments
from ebay |
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I am a
gardener and
wanted to tell
you what a great
ebay site this
is just for the
information.
Thanks for
informing
everyone.
lifeisabeach111
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"This is one of the
best Ebay listings
I've ever read, keep
up the good work!"
Alan Kvasnik
www.greencanvasinteriorscape.com |
"Thank you
for your excellent
information and
pictures on Hoodia.
I purchased 4 Hoodia
plants last year (or
year before) on ebay.
They all died within
6 months even though
I was very careful
with them. Thanks
for warning people
not to spend too
much money on these
succulents. I do
have 2 hoodia (I
think they are
hoodia) that I
purchased this year
that seem to be
doing okay. I hope
they survive because
I really enjoy the
hoodia succulent.
Thanks" |
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Why
Pfizer abandoned Hoodia—"...unwanted
effects on the liver..."
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Pfizer
released the rights
to the primary ingredient in
2002
"...Paul Hutson, associate
professor in the University
of Wisconsin-Madison School
of Pharmacy, told the
Wisconsin State Journal,
"For Pfizer to release
something dealing with
obesity suggests to me that
they felt there was no merit
to its oral use"....Jasjit
Bindra, lead researcher for
Hoodia at Pfizer, states
there were indications of
unwanted effects on the
liver caused by other
components, which could not
be easily removed from the
supplement, adding "Clearly,
Hoodia has a long way to go
before it can earn approval
from the Food and Drug
Administration. Until safer
formulations are developed,
dieters should be wary of
using it."
[Letter to NY Times from
Pfizer researcher] |
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Hoodia Q
& A |
| Q:
If skinny
bushmen eat
a "30 gram
(1-oz.)
portion
prepared
from a 250
gram stem
(1/2 pound)"
how much
would a fat
American
eat? |
A:
No one
knows. No
one knows
how much of
the active
ingredient,
by weight,
is present
in any given
sample.
First you
would have
to know how
many
milligrams
were needed
per pound of
a person's
body weight
to achieve a
significant
appetite
suppressing
effect.
No
professional
study of
this has
been
published.
If you
know of one,
email it to
me.
|
| Q:
How much
Hoodia would
an obese
person need
to lose 30
pounds? 100
pounds? |
A:
No one
knows. No
professional
study of
this has
been
published.
If you
know of one,
email it to
me.
|
| Q:
Can you grow
Hoodia
indoors like
a
houseplant? |
A:
Yes. But
can you grow
coffee as a
houseplant?
Yes,
again. But
the real
question is
"can you
make a pot
of expresso
from home
grown
coffee?"
Probably
not.
In similar
manner there
is no
documentation
of anyone
growing
Hoodia as a
houseplant
and then
publishing
quantitative
laboratory
results
showing how
many
milligrams/gram
of the
appetite
suppressing
chemical is
present in
that house
plant.
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| Q: If
Hoodia are
endangered
species
how do you
get seed to
grow them? |
A:
The seed of
many rare
botanicals
circulates
among
collectors;
this is how
orchids and
other exotic
specimens
have been
grown by
hobbyist. No
one knows
the actual
sources of
such seed;
they do not
know if it
is identical
to wild
specimens or
if it has
been
inadvertently
cross
pollinated
(creating a
hybrid).
Hoodia seed
now comes
from
hobbyists
growers in
Europe and
America. The
seed is not
collected
from the
wild.
Because of
this no one
knows if
what we are
growing is
the same,
genetically,
as the wild
variety. |
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| To grow
enough
Hoodia you
have to
plant it.
Wild species
such as
Hoodia will
only achieve
full health
and vigor by
having roots
in the
earth. |
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"No
one knows the
amount of P57
present in plants sold as "Miracle
Diet Cactus." |
| Qualitative vs
Quantitative testing |
| Qualitative Chemisty test
(quality) |
Quantitative Chemisty test
(quantity) |
| Commercial hemp --
tests positive for THC |
Commercial hemp has
0.3% THC by
weight |
| Decaf coffee --
tests positive for caffeine |
Decaf coffee has
≤ 4 mg
caffeine/cup |
| Hoodia --
tests positive for P57 |
Hoodia has how many
milligrams/kg? |
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| Qualititative
versus
Quantitative? |
Chemistry has
two major divisions
for analyzing a
chemical.
[from
dictionary.com]
• Qualitative
analysis: "The
testing of a
substance or mixture
to determine the
characteristics of
its chemical
constituents." It does not say
how much is
present.
• Quantitative
analysis:
"...determines
the amounts and
proportions of the
chemical
constituents of a
substance or
mixture"
This is how you find
out how much
caffeine is present
in your soda, or
how much P57 is
present in your
Hoodia.
Unfortunately, no
one is providing
certification of the
amount of P57
present, as a
percentage, of the
plants or seed being
sold as "Miracle
Diet Cactus." |
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Hoodia can be
planted outdoors in
Zone 9. I have been
growing it outside
for years and it has
survived 22 degree
nights as well as
105 degree days. |
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But, you may
ask, if P57 is present isn't
that enough? Not at all!
Decaf coffee contains
caffeine. But, you protest,
isn't it supposed to be
caffeine free! Of course—but
it isn't.
• Qualitative
analysis will show the
presence of caffeine.
• Quantitative analysis
determines whether or not
you will not receive the
effects of caffeine, and
from that you can estimate
how much of an effect.
Laboratory Testing
When I contacted a lab they
only wanted to trade for
cactus, send me cat videos
and never quoted testing
rates. Its a weird world
out there! |
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How much P57 is present in your
Hoodia plant? |
All you have to do is purchase this
article! Its only $50. Then set
up a Phenomenex Gemini reverse phase
column...and you'll know what you
are talking about as opposed to
being the victim of a scam.
http://www.atypon-link.com/AOAC/doi/abs/10.5555/jaoi.89.3.606?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jaoi
| Determination of the Appetite
Suppressant P57 in Hoodia gordonii
Plant Extracts and Dietary
Supplements by Liquid
Chromatography/Electrospray
Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LC-MSD-TOF)
and LC-UV Methods
[purchase article] |
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Author(s):
Bharathi Avula1,
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Yan-Hong Wang2,
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Rahul S. Pawar3,
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Yatin J. Shukla4,
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Brian Schaneberg5,
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Ikhlas A. Khan6 |
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Hoodia gordonii
is traditionally
used in South Africa
for its appetite
suppressant
properties. P57AS3
(P57), an
oxypregnane
steroidal glycoside,
is the only reported
active constituent
from this plant as
an appetite
suppressant.
Effective quality
control of these
extracts or products
requires rapid
methods to determine
P57 content. New
methods of liquid
chromatography/mass
spectrometry (LC/MS)
and LC-UV for
analysis of P57 from
H. gordonii have
been developed. The
quantitative
determination of P57
was achieved with a
Phenomenex Gemini
(Torrance, CA)
reversed-phase
column using
gradient mobile
phase of water and
acetonitrile, both
containing 0.1%
acetic acid. The
method was validated
for linearity,
repeatability, and
limits of detection
and quantification.
Good results were
obtained in terms of
repeatability
(relative standard
deviation <5.0%) and
recovery
(98.5–103.5%). The
developed methods
were applied to the
determination of P57
for H. gordonii
plant samples, one
related genus (Opuntia
ficus-indica), and
dietary supplements
that claim to
contain H. gordonii. |
1,2,3
National Center for
Natural Products
Research, Research
Institute of
Pharmaceutical
Sciences, The
University of
Mississippi, MS
38677.
4
Department of
Pharmacognosy,
School of Pharmacy,
The University of
Mississippi, MS
38677.
5
ChromaDex Analytics,
2830 Wilderness Pl,
Boulder, CO 80301.
6
National Center for
Natural Products
Research, Research
Institute of
Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Department
of Pharmacognosy,
School of Pharmacy,
The University of
Mississippi, MS
38677. |
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The "Miracle Diet Cactus"
$scam$ |
A) MIRACLE
The miracle was that you could buy
1,000 seed for $30 and sell a single
6” seedling on ebay for $49.95! But
that was before ebay banned the
Hoodia plant scam for a year to make
people chill out.
B) DIET
It’s a diet because it tastes so
bad—like rotten, slimy cucumbers—that you puke anything you eat! When
it flowers in your kitchen the
stench (like a dead animal) is so
bad you can’t swallow anything.
C) CACTUS
Its not a cactus. It is a
succulent—but that sounded like
something good to eat. People are
easily confused so just call it a cactus!
The point of the scam is to make
money, not sense.
Hoodia Myths
ebay sellers used to sell Hoodia Macrantha
and Hoodia Ruscii until
too many buyers asked too many
questions. “Why waste time educating
people” they asked themselves?
“Lets
just call all Hoodia “Hoodia gordonii and get on with making
money.”
Before the ebay ban on Hoodia,
sellers said it was so easy to grow
a cavegirl could do it. After the
ban you had to buy special
instructions and buy special soil.
Seed prices went from $30/1000 to
$900/1000.
The problem is that no one in the
USA has yet produced mature plants like
those that exist in the Africa
Deserts. They only have immature
house plant type specimens. Even a
caveman can do that.
• Do these young houseplants contain
the steroidal glucose molecules name
P57? If so, then at what age is P57
produced? Africans say it takes 5—7
years.
• The real question is how many
milligrams of P57/kilogram is
present? in a particular plant
specimen. Want to find out? You have
to use high pressure liquid
chromotography with quantitative
analysis methods to determine this.
Want to get started? You can buy the
information for $50 from the
Association of Analytical Chemistry:
• Then; how many milligrams are
required/kilogram of a person’s body
weight to achieve appetite
suppression?
• The answer? No one knows. |
Hoodia takes 5 to 7 years
growing
in the desert to mature. |
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Expecting
Hoodia raised as a houseplant to have
the same properties as the African
desert variety is like thinking
you can grow tea or coffee in a
flowerpot; then treat your friends
to your home grown “green tea” or
“Columbian coffee.”
Hoodia allows skinny bushmen of the
desert, who normally dine on lizards
or insects, to fight hunger for 24
hours while they hunt. But Americans
have a reaction like Chinese food—an
hour later they’re hungry again!
Bushmen are tiny little folk. No one
knows how much Hoodia an American
would have to eat—perhaps the
equivalent weight of a big Mac with
fries is a start. That would be
several entire ebay sized plants.
But that still would not work since
the plants have to be mature—just as
you can’t make coffee from a 9”
plant neither can you expect a 9”
Hoodia to be the same as a 3-foot
tall, 7 year old, desert grown
specimen.
After all, it anyone could produce
their own coffee and tea from seed
grown houseplants…well you get the
point. Don’t you? |
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Is Hoodia easy to grow? |
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Not if you
treat it as a house plant. This
plant evolved in the harsh conditions of
the African deserts. If you pamper
it like a house plant—dump water &
plant food on Hoodia—it will die of
rot. Its so easy to kill a caveman
can do it. |
| How much
Hoodia would you need if it
worked? |
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If you grow hundreds of pounds
of Hoodia you might have enough to lose
hundreds of pounds of ugly fat. How
would you grow that much Hooida in
your house?
• Take a spare bed room and fill it
3 feet deep with rocks & sand.
Install 1,000W heat lamps to
simulate the African Desert. Then
plant Hoodia and wait 7 years for
them to mature. Don’t forget the
flies! Hoodia smell like a dead
animal when they flower and need
flies to pollinate them.
Never be able to eat again! If
people kept the fowl smelling
flowering Hoodia in their kitchens
the smell might make it impossible
to eat. Such motivated fatties might
eventually look as skinny as
starving desert dwellers! Maybe you
can too! |
Start the Miracle Diet Cactus
lifestyle today.
Sure Hoodia stinks, but
being fat stinks worse! |
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