What You Should Know About the Hoodia 60 Minutes and BBC Reports

After researching and writing on hoodia gordonii and hoodia supplements for years, I felt it was important to write an article about the hoodia 60 Minutes and BBC reports that are supposedly endorsing specific hoodia diet pills. The BBC and 60 Minutes never endorsed a specific hoodia diet pill. Any website that claims they did is lying.

There are a number of websites that promote or sell hoodia supplements that say "as seen on 60 minutes" or "endorsed by" followed by the logos of the BBC or the 60 minutes program. This is a misrepresentation because it leads many consumers to believe that the product being sold is endorsed by these two media giants. When, in all actuality, neither of them have endorsed or tested a hoodia diet supplement.

60 minutes reporter, Leslie Stahl, did do a story on the hoodia gordonii plant on November 21, 2004. She traveled to South Africa's Kalahari Desert to see the native plant growing in the wild. She ate a small piece of it. She later reported that she wasn't hungry all day and that the hoodia gordonii plan did work in suppressing her appetite.

Leslie Stahl said nothing else about hoodia. She, and 60 Minutes, did not mention any specific brands of hoodia supplements, let alone endorse one. However, unless you read the show's transcripts or watched it yourself when it aired on CBS, you wouldn't know this. Hoodia sellers have taken the 60 Minutes show and twisted the facts around in an attempt to sell more of their hoodia supplements.

The BBC report is another example where hoodia sellers have taken a story and have spun it to their advantage. The BBC did a documentary on hoodia in 2003. Tom Mangold, a well-known BBC correspondent, also traveled to the Kalahari Desert to try the hoodia gordonii plant himself. Mr. Mangold and his camera man each ate a small piece of the plant. The pair reported that they, "did not even think about food" for the rest of the day. Even more amazing, they reported that they didn't want breakfast the next morning and their appetite during lunchtime was nearly nonexistent.

As before with the hoodia 60 minutes report, the BBC did not test a specific hoodia supplement, or endorse one. All that Stahl and Mangold did was test the plant directly to get a first hand report on whether the plant controlled their appetites. Neither journalist endorsed or tested a particular hoodia supplement.

If you find yourself visiting a website that claims their product was featured on 60 minutes or the BBC, go to another site. Any company that would twist the hoodia 60 minutes or BBC reports to their own advantage is misrepresenting themselves and their product. They are not being honest. If they aren't honest about something like this, how honest are they about the effectiveness and authenticity of their product?