Hydroxycut Hoodia

"Hydroxycut Hoodia" is a Hydroxycut-brand diet-pill product that is widely available on the U.S. market, marketed by MuscleTech and others as an appetite suppressant. As a Hydroxycut product that is not among the fourteen products voluntarily recalled in May 2009 by manufacturer Iovate Health Sciences, Inc., Hydroxycut Hoodia will continue to be available to consumers.

FDA's Warning about All Hydroxycut Products

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's issued a Hydroxycut warning in May 2009, recommending that consumers stop using any and all Hydroxycut products. In addition, although hoodia, or Hoodia Gordonii (Asclepiadaceae) was introduced in the U.S. just a few years ago (2004), it's already been incorporated into:

caps
gel tablets
liquid tinctures
coffee
infusions
syrups
protein shakes
diet fruit bars

The plant from which hoodia is derived is found only in southwestern Africa, where native hunters have been using the stems and roots as an appetite- and thirst-suppressant for centuries.

Harmful Hydroxycut Hoodia?

However, the safety of hoodia is not known — no controlled studies have been conducted, and the posiible Hydroxycut side effects are not established. All drugs and supplements, without exception, have side effects for at least some people, and hoodia is no different.

The chief researcher for hoodia at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Dr. Jasjit Bindra, admitted that there was evidence that hoodia has undesirable effects on the liver — due to components of hoodia that cannot be removed during processing.