Hoodia gordonii has grown immensely in popularity in recent years and has featured in various media both in a good and bad light. Whether it is TV, radio or written press in the form of newspapers or magazines, the subject has been debated long and hard. There are now literally millions of pages on the web relating to the topic as well.
Here we list a few references to hoodia gordonii as featured on the world’s television screens.
On 30th May 2003, the BBC presented a report on Hoodia Gordonii. The reporter, Tom Mangold journeyed to southern Africa to sample Hoodia Gordonii for himself. This is how he described his experience: 
“The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and I have to say, we felt good. But more significantly, we did not even think about food. Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception. Dinner time came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted nor ate breakfast. I ate lunch but without appetite and very little pleasure. Partial then full appetite returned slowly after 24 hours”.
On 21st November 2004, CBS was the first major media channel to showcase a report on Hoodia Gordonii. This particular report is the one that triggered all the interest in the plant. Journalist Lesley Stahl reported that after consuming raw Hoodia Gordonii: “she had no after effects – no funny taste in her mouth, no queasy stomach, and no racing heart.
She also wasn’t hungry all day, even when she would normally have a pang around mealtime. And, she also had no desire to eat or drink the entire day.”
On 24th October 2005, MSNBC reporter Janet Shamlian debated the merits of Hoodia Gordonii with Madelyn Fernstrom, a respected authority on weight loss. The program finished by saying that some people had reported a positive effect but the majority “were not sure”. Obviously, in conclusion, further research is necessary to learn more about Hoodia.
The July 2005 edition of Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine included a story named “Diet Pills, the next generation”. Since that time a hoodia-Oprah association was formed and has been used by countless Hoodia companies to try and further their products that were on the market. The particular Oprah hoodia story did not support or recommend any Hoodia product currently on the market at the time. It just happened to be a general article on the subject, as were most of the television reports about the effectiveness of hoodia as an appetite suppressant.
CNN carried a report which pretty much offered the same facts but cautioned that there were no conclusive studies to prove the effects of Hoodia. Most of the claims had been sketchy and came in the form of “It worked for me, so it may work for you”.
Before CBS’s report surfaced, there were a grand total of three Hoodia products on the U.S. market and Hoodia gordonii was actually being sold by African farmers for $3 per kilogram. Fast forwarding to 2007 we find that there are over 300 products being sold worldwide that are being touted as “authentic Hoodia gordonii” with the street rate for hoodia gordonii an average of $250 per kilogram.
