Understanding Hoodia Tincture, Hoodia Powder, & P57 Hoodia Extract
Before I explain the difference between the main types of hoodia supplements that are currently available, I want to give a brief history of the hoodia gordonii plant. It is only found in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa and has been used for centuries by the San tribe, or Bushmen. They ate it to stave off hunger during long hunting trips. They cut off the aerial stem of the plant, peel it, and then eat it.
Just a small piece curbs their appetite for hours. The important point, however, is that they ate the plant raw and not in supplement form! Furthermore, they didn’t eat the entire plant. They peeled the stem like a banana and only ate the inner core where the active ingredient responsible for the appetite suppression is found.
Hoodia gordonii is now classified as an endangered species and there are tight controls over the exportation of it. Only a handful of companies have been given the right to export hoodia gordonii from South Africa to be used in supplements. There are different types of hoodia supplements so let’s take a look at them and see which type is the most effective.
Hoodia Tincture
Hoodia tincture, also known as liquid hoodia extract or elixir, is a liquid form of hoodia. When you look at the ingredients on the label, you may see a ratio like 20:1 or 10:1. Proponents of liquid hoodia extract claim that it is more effective than traditional capsules because it is digested faster and more potent because it is a concentrated form of hoodia gordonii.
In fact, there is more evidence that suggests just the opposite - that capsules are more effective. Most dieters that have had a positive experience with hoodia supplements used capsules, not liquid hoodia extract. Furthermore, the few studies that have been done that have shown promising results of hoodia, were done using capsules or P57 extract, another type of hoodia discussed below.
Whether you buy the hoodia tincture arguments or not, I want to explain what it is and I want to point out a few things to consider before you go rush out and buy a liquid hoodia extract. Hoodia tinctures are made by soaking the powdered form of the plant in a water and glycerine (or vinegar) solution. Some hoodia extracts are made by soaking the powder in a mixture of alcohol and water.
You can tell if the hoodia extract you are considering is nonalcoholic by reading the label. Nonalcoholic-based hoodia tinctures will be labeled as such and you may see vinegar or glycerine (glycerol) listed in the ingredients. The nonalcoholic-based tinctures are usually preferred because they taste better.
The ratio that you see listed on the label represents the number of parts of the plant it took to make one part of the hoodia tincture. In the case of 20:1, that means it took 20 parts of the plant to make 1 part of the hoodia extract. Parts usually means pounds or grams so 20:1 would mean 20 pounds, or grams, of the hoodia plant was used to make 1 pound, or gram, of the hoodia extract.
It would appear that hoodia tinctures are in fact more potent than capsules because they are a more concentrated form of hoodia. After all, 20 parts are reduced to just 1 part hoodia extract. Before you accept that as fact, consider this, some resources suggest that very little of the active ingredient (called P57) in hoodia gordonii ends up in the hoodia extract. If this is true, hoodia extract would be the least effective type of hoodia because you actually end up losing most of the very ingredient responsible for suppressing appetite!
Hoodia gordonii is scarce and very expensive. That is why hoodia supplements in general are expensive. Assuming hoodia extracts are possible, that would mean 20 parts of the plant (be it pounds, grams, or whatever) are used to make 1 part of the hoodia extract.
In other words, 20 parts of the plant are thrown away. Given the current prices of bulk hoodia gordonii, it doesn’t seem possible that a company could afford to do this and still price their hoodia tincture product for about the same price as a bottle of traditional hoodia capsules. If hoodia extracts were real, then they would cost several times more than a bottle of hoodia capsules.
If you are convinced that hoodia tinctures are real and are considering them, I highly recommend you stick with those brands that use concentrated “core” powder when making their hoodia extracts.
concentrated “core” powder of the hoodia gordonii plant.
As I mentioned previously, extracts are made by soaking the powdered form of the hoodia gordonii plant. You will learn in a minute that there are two types of hoodia powder - whole plant powder and concentrated “core” powder. Those tinctures that are made using whole plant powder are inferior to those made using the concentrated “core” powder.
There are only two hoodia tinctures that I know of that use concentrated “core” powder. They are Desert Juice made by Desert Burn and Hoodoba Elixir made by Hoodoba. If you are going to try liquid hoodia extract, these are the two brands I would recommend.
Hoodia Powder
There are two types of hoodia powders - whole plant powder and concentrated “core” powder. Whole plant powder is exactly what it sounds like. The whole hoodia gordonii plant is grounded into powder. This is the cheapest and least effective hoodia powder because it contains the inactive parts of the plant such as the skin and even the roots in some cases.
Concentrated “core” powder contains only the peeled stems of the hoodia gordonii plant. This type of hoodia powder is the closest thing to the raw hoodia gordonii plant and is considered to be the closest thing to what the San tribe would eat.
most effective type of hoodia. It is also the most expensive.
Both brands shown on my best rated hoodia page use concentrated core powder.
P57 Hoodia Extract
The active ingredient in the hoodia gordonii plant is called P57 and is responsible for its appetite suppressant qualities. Phytopharm, a British pharmaceutical company, has the exclusive patent on P57. They have been working on a method to specifically extract the P57 molecule to use in supplements. You might be asking what’s the difference between this type of extract and hoodia tincture?
Since P57 occurs naturally in the hoodia gordonii plant it makes sense that it will be present in hoodia tincture and hoodia powder. The question, however, is how much actually makes its way into those types of hoodia? What Phytopharm has been working on is a method to extract the actual P57 molecule from the plant and then use it in supplements. In other words, their extract and the products they create using it, will contain 100% of P57 - not just parts of the plant that contains “some” P57.
The P57 hoodia extract isn’t available yet, but Phytopharm hopes to have a product on the market by the end of 2008 - most likely under the SlimFast brand.
Editor’s Update: Phtopharm has announced that it is in the final stages of preparing the launch of their P57 hoodia weight loss supplement. The weight loss supplement is expected to launch in the second half of 2009.
