The first thing that you should know about Hoodia is that not all Hoodia that is sold to the general public comes from Africa. Since the hike in popularity of Hoodia in 2003, many other parts of the world have caught on and decided to plant Hoodia in their own countries. At the time of writing many countries including Mexico and China have produced their own Hoodia for commercial purposes.

Research has shown that the Hoodia grown in Africa has the highest concentration of the active ingredient P57 which helps to suppress appetite. Research indicated that although the Hoodia plants grows successfully in other countries, almost all don’t have the same level of the active ingredient P57 as compared to those the plants that originated from Africa. The reason is said to be because of the soil composition differences. The Hoodia plant can only produce effective amounts of P57 when given the right soil conditions.

The absolute best place for Hoodia to grow is in the Kalahari Desert, a region of South Africa where temperatures often reach 50 degrees Celsius regularly. With the extremely high temperatures and rough conditions of the desert the Hoodia plant takes much longer to mature (between 4-6 years). It is believed that it is the extreme conditions and the length to maturity is what builds the potency of the P57 in the African Hoodia plant.

Ever since the popularity of Hoodia sky-rocketed some years back, most individuals involved in the industry have turned away from harvesting wild Hoodia. Instead, there are now many South African Hoodia farms. In order to farm Hoodia, the farmer must be granted a special license from the South African Government which basically re-enforces the quality standards of Hoodia leaving Africa. Hoodia is also considered an endangered species so the regulation around the plant is particularly tight.

It should be noted that of the many thousand types of Hoodia plants, only one produces contains P57, namely Hoodia Gordonii. There are many unscrupulous people on the internet who don’t even use Hoodia Gordonii in the production of their diet pills, rather they use other species which have no benefit at all in terms of diet suppression.

The African Bushmen normally rely on the plants as a food source on their long hunting journeys. The succulent core of the Hoodia plant also contains water which is vital for surviving in the desert. They have reported that on eating too much of the plant or drinking too much from its succulent core will cause them to loose appetite for their kill thus eating only a small amount of the Hoodia plant is recommended.