Monday, January 5, 2009

Are Hoodia Patches Better Than Hoodia Diet Pills?

By Reagan Miers

If you've ever been in a store or visited a website that sells hoodia patches then you will probably have seen that the company's biggest claim is that their patch works a lot more effectively than the traditional hoodia diet pills. They argue that by wearing a patch you will receive a slow release of hoodia into your bloodstream throughout the day.

Companies selling the hoodia patch will claim that since it bypasses your stomach and enters the bloodstream through the skin, it will suppress your appetite quicker and more effectively than capsules or liquids.

Unfortunately while these claims sound genuine enough, there is actually very little evidence to back them up. In fact, there are very few studies on how effective hoodia gordonii is to start with, never mind any studies into hoodia patches.

What about the nicotine patch or the birth control patch, you may ask? They work after all, so the hoodia patch must be effective. Sellers of hoodia patches will try to make this comparison but don't fall for it. There is a big difference between these products.

Both nicotine patches and birth control patches required the person to have a prescription. This is still the case for birth control patches, however, nicotine patches have just become available over the counter without a prescription. That being the case, it is important to bear in mind that you have never needed a prescription for a hoodia patch.

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.

I know some of you will be skeptical about believing medical studies, so here's something else to consider. Hoodia gordonii is grown in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, and is a cactus like plant which has been used for generations by the local tribes to suppress hunger on hunting trips.

The tribe would cut a section of the plant, peel it, and then eat it. This would be enough to stop their appetite for many hours. Now, in your opinion which method most closely matches eating the actual plant? Taking a hoodia capsule which contains the ground up plant, or sticking a patch to your skin? I'm sure you will see that the capsule is the much more effective method of getting hoodia into your body.

So I believe that all the hoodia patches out there are a waste of time, which may make you think that hoodia supplement capsules are the best way forward. This is not true! In fact most studies show that the majority of hoodia products available today are fakes which contain little to no hoodia gordonii. There are only a few hoodia diet pills which do contain genuine 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.

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