What Is The Real Story Behind The Hoodia Oprah Connection?
Shopping for hoodia online can easily make you think that there is a hoodia Oprah connection. Some websites claim that Oprah endorses and uses hoodia. Some go so far as to claim that Oprah uses their brand of hoodia. The truth is I don’t believe there is any hoodia Oprah connection.
When surfing the net looking for hoodia, you may run across sites that say “as seen on Oprah” or “Oprah uses hoodia.” Truthfully, I can find no record that hoodia has ever been featured on the Oprah show. I also haven’t found any documentation that claims Oprah uses hoodia gordonii. I went to Oprah’s website and did a search for “hoodia” and a search for “hoodia Oprah” and got zero search results. Until I find evidence to the contrary, it is safe to say there is no connection between hoodia and Oprah Winfrey.
I will say there is a minor connection to hoodia in Oprah’s magazine, O. The websites that claim Oprah uses hoodia point to an article, “Diet Pills: The Next Generation,” that ran in O’s July 2005 issue. The magazine was hard to locate, but I managed to find one on eBay and purchased it. I wanted to find out exactly what Oprah said about hoodia. The article was very surprising.
When I turned to the article I saw a large picture of a San tribe member holding a piece of the hoodia gordonii plant. I immediately thought there was probably a significant connection after all. However, after reading the entire article there was absolutely no hoodia Oprah connection. The article wasn’t even written by her and there were no quotes from Oprah about hoodia.
The first two paragraphs of the article discussed the history of the plant and its popularity in the weight loss industry. Yet, the article in O didn’t speak very favorably of hoodia weight loss supplements and said, “So far, however, there’s little proof that the supplements are even mildly effective: Most contain only small, probably insignificant levels of Hoodia extract” If anything, if I didn’t know better, this article would make me doubt the benefits of hoodia gordonii supplements, though no brand was mentioned.
The article goes on to inform the reader that pharmaceutical firms are still trying to come up with the latest and greatest weight loss supplement. Beyond the first two paragraphs, there is no mention of hoodia at all. As far as Oprah’s magazine is concerned, there is no hoodia Oprah connection.
It surprises me that Oprah hasn’t started legal proceedings against the websites that use her name, and the name of her magazine, to endorse their hoodia products. I’m sure it is only a matter of time before Oprah’s legal department takes action against these websites. The truth is Oprah has not endorsed hoodia, and there is no hoodia Oprah connection.
