Read any literature or visit any website that sells hoodia patches and you’ll see their biggest claim is that their products work more effectively than capsules. The idea behind the patch is that you’ll get a slow release of hoodia gordonii throughout the day as it passes through your skin and into your bloodstream.
Another claim they have is that because the hoodia enters your bloodstream directly, without having to work it’s way through your stomach, the patch will start having an effect much quicker compared to pills or liquid products.
These theories seem to make sense, however, there is very little evidence to actually confirm them. To be honest, there are no clinical trials or experiments into the effectiveness of hoodia patches. There are very few studies on hoodia gordonii at all.
The companies who sell hoodia patches often compare them to other patches with a proven track record, such as nicotine patches and birth control patches. People know these products work, so they presume that a hoodia patch will work just as well. Don’t be fooled! There are many differences in these products.
In order to buy a birth control patch you must be issued a prescription, and until recently you needed a prescription to be able to get a nicotine patch too. They have only just become available over the counter. However, you don’t need a prescription for a hoodia patch, and this is an important factor to remember.
Any product that requires, or used to require a prescription, has to pass a number of regulations and government criteria to ensure that it is effective and safe for the general public to use. Hoodia patches have never needed to meet these requirements.
Hoodia gordonii is a cactus like plant which has been grown and harvested in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa by the San tribe for centuries. They use the hoodia plant in order to control their hunger while out on long hunting expeditions.
They cut off about 2-3 inches of the plant, peel it, and then eat it. This small piece of the plant suppresses their appetite for hours. What more closely resembles eating the actual plant – swallowing a pill that contains the powder of the ground up plant, or sticking a patch on your skin? I think you would agree that a pill would be more effective than a patch.
While I firmly believe that hoodia patches are worthless, I don’t want to leave you with the impression that every hoodia capsule on the market is effective. In fact, according to a recent study a majority of the hoodia supplements on the market today are fake so they’re as worthless as the patch. That same study concluded that only a handful of hoodia diet pills contain authentic hoodia gordonii.
Until there is better regulation and testing you would be far wiser to spend your money on authentic hoodia diet pills instead of wasting your money on hoodia patches.
