Side Effects of Hoodia on Teenage Girls?

My friend has made her thirteen old daughter start taking Green Tea/Hoodia pills. I am concerned that this is not really the best solution to her weight problem. I am looking for info I can relate to her so she might change her mind about the pills. Thanks alot. -Tulip

Tulip:

That’s a tough one and it’s a shame that your friend is pushing diet pills on someone so young. Here is some information that hopefully will help.

Hoodia generally isn’t recommended for anyone under the age of 18 simply because it’s an appetite suppressant. The idea is that teenagers need food for growth so they shouldn’t be depriving their body of important nutrients that are needed to fuel their growth. Also, I think most people believe that teenagers in general shouldn’t be taking diet pills so there is this blanket statement that people under the age of 18 shouldn’t take hoodia or any diet supplement.

Having said all that, authentic hoodia gordonii has been shown to be a very safe supplement with virtually no side effects. Hoodia simply tricks the brain into thinking it is full. It is not a stimulant. It’s simply a natural appetite suppressant.

The problem is, most hoodia supplements on the market today are fake. In fact, one expert believes that the percentage of fake hoodia supplements could be as high as 80%! It’s very easy to get scammed. Only authentic hoodia gordonii has the ability to suppress appetite (and is the only hoodia that has been proven to be safe so far).

There are many things to look for when you buy hoodia to avoid being scammed, but the two most important are CITES certificates and independent lab test results that prove the product is authentic. You’ll find these documents on websites of companies who sell authentic hoodia gordonii. Examples of such companies are Desert Burn, Hoodoba, and Hoodia Hoodia. You can read more about these brands on my best rated hoodia page.

As your friend will quickly realize, real hoodia isn’t cheap. It’s very scarce right now and the demand for it is so high that the supplements cost a lot of money. Most of the hoodia supplements that contain other ingredients (such as green tea) are not real so they are usually ineffective. I never recommend these combination products.

I always tell my visitors that if they’re going to take hoodia, just take pure authentic hoodia gordonii and nothing else. All those other ingredients dilute the product’s effectiveness and do very little when it comes to appetite suppression.

Finally, most people are under the false impression that hoodia is a magic weight loss pill. It will not burn fat or magically melt the weight away. All it has the potential to do is suppress appetite. That being said, there are lots of other much cheaper (and in some cases more effective) ways to suppress appetite such as drinking lots of water, eating apples in between meals or shortly before a meal, eating green leafy vegetables, and even increasing your protein intake (think protein drinks).

The bottom line is this…tell your friend that if she insists her daughter takes hoodia, make sure she is getting authentic hoodia gordonii. If she doesn’t want to spend the money on authentic hoodia, then advise her on the other natural appetite suppressants I have outlined.

Some people don’t respond to it. In addition, it can take several hundred milligrams (as much as 3,000mg per day) per day for it to be effective. I’ll be willing to bet that the product your friend’s daughter is taking contains only a couple hundred milligrams of hoodia per serving - if it contains authentic hoodia at all. If anything, your friend may not be putting her daughter in harm, but she is probably throwing her money away!

Best of luck to you.

Travis

My answer as it originally appeared at Yahoo! Answers