There are hundreds of hoodia supplements on the market but finding an effective hoodia diet pill may not be as easy as you think. A study was done in 2006 by a consumer advocacy group where they had 17 of the most popular hoodia brands tested for authenticity. Amazingly, only six were found to contain authentic hoodia gordonii!

If you're not familiar with hoodia I'll give a quick primer before I provide some tips that will help you when you're looking for an effective hoodia diet pill. It is a cactus-like plant that is technically classified as a succulent. There are thirteen varieties, but the hoodia gordonii variety is what put hoodia on the map. It is the only variety that has been shown to be an effective natural appetite suppressant. Hoodia diet pills that don't contain authentic hoodia gordonii are worthless and won't do anything but empty your wallet.

It is found only in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. It is there where the San tribe, or Bushmen, have used it for centuries to curb their appetite before enduring long hunting trips. Eating a small piece of the hoodia gordonii plant suppresses their appetite for hours.

The BBC and 60 minutes featured the wonders of this plant in the early 2000's and ever since, hoodia diet pills have become one of the most popular weight loss supplements. The demand for hoodia gordonii went through the roof and supply hasn't been able to keep up. Since it only grows well in the soils of South Africa and takes 2-3 years before it can be harvested, it has never been able to keep up pace with demand.

Today, the hoodia gordonii plant is now classified as an endangered species and as a result, there are very tight controls on the exportation of it from South Africa. This leads to my first tip that will help you when you're looking for an effective hoodia diet pill. Companies must obtain a CITES certificate before they can export hoodia gordonii from South Africa. Companies that are selling real hoodia gordonii diet pills will clearly display their CITES certificate on their websites.

Another thing to watch for is independent lab testing. Companies that claim they have "in-house" lab testing isn't enough. You want to look for those companies who have their products randomly and anonymously tested by an independent lab. This ensures the most accurate results. Some companies will have their products tested by an independent lab, but they'll send their own sample. Reputable companies will allow the lab themselves to randomly and anonymously select a sample for testing.

The way you can tell if a company allows random testing is to look closely at the lab analysis sheet which is also found on most websites. You'll see a section on the sheet that describes how the sample was obtained. It will say, "sample randomly obtained," or something similar. If you don't see the word "random" or a variation of it, then chances are the company selected their own sample and then submitted it for testing.

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