Hoodia CITES Certification
Did you know that hoodia certification exists? It’s called a Hoodia CITES (sometimes written c.i.t.e.s) Certificate and you should be aware of it. CITES stands for Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Certified hoodia gordonii succulent powder is rare. The term succulent is used because the plant is often classed as both a succulent and as a cactus, as commonly thought.
This plant is indigenous to a certain region of South Africa. It’s been used by the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert for thousands of years with no ill effects. They used it to suppress their appetites during long treks across the desert. Modern science has picked up this plant as a miraculous weight loss supplement that when combined with a healthy diet and moderate exercise can help millions of people lose unwanted pounds.
Any product that works in the weight loss field is huge business and potentially worth billions of dollars to the big corporations in sales. It’s this profit driven type of mentally that drove the quick and cheap production of cheaper scams. These often use cheap fillers, pulpy leaves, skin, and fibers that contain no appetite suppressant qualities at all. (Hoodia Lab Assays and CITES support documents, 2007)
As there are also close to a dozen different varieties of hoodia but only hoodia gordonii has been researched and proven to contain the appetite suppressing qualities. The Bushmen used one variety and one variety only – hoodia gordonii.
Hoodia gordonii grows in a limited region, and it’s illegal to grow for production unless you have a permit, even if you are in South Africa. This plant takes between 5-7 years to mature to a harvestable age. For all the reasons mentioned above, it’s necessary to be able to identify the real hoodia against the cheap imitations.
This is where a Hoodia CITES Certificate can help. As hoodia gordonii is classed as a protected plant due to its limited supply and high demand, you now need a CITES Certificate to export this plant out of South Africa. Very few Hoodia manufacturers can produce this paperwork. However, if you buy from hoodia supplements from a company that displays this certificate, you know the supplement came from genuine South African hoodia gordonii.
When you see the certificate, make sure it is still valid. There is a box that says ‘valid until date.’ The date system is the European format – day/month/year. Often a company will also post an Alchemist’s lab report showing the chromatographic profiles of the hoodia gordonii used in their products. That’s great because any documentation is a help in determining the truth. Be aware of the dates on these Alchemists reports, they will usually be slightly old however anything past 8 months is worth questioning and anything over 1 year means it was last year’s product that was tested – so where is this years’ test results?
Like every economic market, purchasing hoodia products is a ‘buyers beware’ situation. Become an informed buyer and if you have questions, email the company for answers.
Works Cited
Hoodia Lab As says and CITES support documents. (2007). Retrieved 4 2007, July , from Hoodia Advice: http://www.hoodia-advice.org/hoodia-lab-cites.html