I'm probably not going to be much help. I saw a lot of commercials over the holidays about it. It was the first I heard of it. After what happened with the appetite suppressents back in the 90's that resulted in a lot of heart problems, I'm afraid of them. Plus the commercials had people claiming to be doctors endorsing it. From what I have heard, often those people are paid to endorse it and haven't done clinical studies of them. I'm trying to lose 30 pounds on weight watchers. It is coming off slowly. All I can tell you is that I truly don't get hungry if I eat the proper foods all day. When I get ravenous is when I have been hitting the empty calories (such as candy, white bread, fried foods, etc) and I don't stay satisfied long enough. I would like it if there were some sort of magical pill that could be the solution and maybe one day it will be here. Wikipedia has some good info on hoodia's history, and some cautions. The two most important cautions are typical of these supplements. One - no scientific proof that it works, and Two - a lot of companies claim their pill contains the ingredient but it does not. Some of the article here: Published scientific reports Whether hoodia works as an appetite suppressant has not been scientifically proven. No published peer-reviewed double-blind clinical trials have been performed on humans to investigate the safety or effectiveness of Hoodia gordonii in pill form as a nutritional supplement. One scientific study has been published in which the extract was injected directly into the brains of rats.[8] The author of the rat study said that P57 was easily broken down by the liver, so it might be hard to take in enough of it to ensure that it had an effect. MacLean cautioned that currently available supplements might be inadequate, stating "I question whether there is really enough of the active ingredient in there to do much."[9] Press coverage The press coverage and heavy marketing by nutritional supplement companies have created such a demand for Hoodia plants that a protected status was imposed in several countries like Namibia. Many products claiming to contain Hoodia do not actually contain the active ingredient alleged to suppress appetite. Only the South African product has the claimed properties. An ongoing review of Hoodia pills by Alkemists Pharmaceuticals found that at least half of the products advertised as containing Hoodia contained none.[10] In March 2006, Consumer Reports investigated the dietary supplement and concluded, "This weight loss drug lacks the clinical evidence for the Consumer Reports experts to recommend this product."[11] Marketing and spam Lack of scientific evidence or regulatory approval have not stopped dietary supplement companies from marketing Hoodia gordonii extracts with claims that it can lower blood pressure and reduce the appetite. Goen Technologies Corporation's TrimSpa unit began marketing Hoodia gordonii under the brand name X32 with celebrity spokesperson Anna Nicole Smith, even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Trimspa that it has not demonstrated that claims for their product are scientifically supportable.[12] Health Canada has not approved any hoodia products for sale.[13] Goen Technologies has also been sued by the state of New Jersey for misleading consumers.[14] The Trimspa brand is currently the subject of a lawsuit in California which claims that it does not contain any of Hoodia's active ingredient.[10] In March to June of 2006, billions of email spam messages were sent out concerning Hoodia, ostensibly offering Hoodia extracts for weight control purposes. As is usually the case with spam, it is not clear what prompted the sudden barrage of messages, since there had not been any recent positive media coverage about Hoodia, nor any signs of increasing public interest in Hoodia. The Federal Trade Commission has logged numerous complaints of consumer fraud associated with Hoodia and the number is expected to continue to rise.[10] In December 2004, Unilever entered into an agreement with Phytopharm to start marketing Hoodia gordonii commercially in the form of shakes and diet bars.[15] On July 1, 2006, it was reported on entertainment news show Extra that a company is now marketing Hoodia-enhanced lollipops.[16] There are many so-called "consumer research" websites claiming to show consumer reviews and testimonials. The legitimacy and accuracy of any of these websites are unknown. In addition to massive spam campaigns, there have been many reports of over-hyped and sometimes misleading marketing associated with websites selling and/or promoting Hoodia-related products. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to whole article

To anyone that can help- :) I have been struggling with some similar problems and has been going on with my kitten for months! I adopted a kitten who I new already had diarrhea ( I had no idea what I was getting myself into); day 3 I took him to the vet and he tested positive for Giarrdia began dozing Metronidazole and seperated from my other cats. He finished the dozing but diarrhea continued and thought we may have seen a tape worm segment. He didn't give a strong enough sample the second time but because Giarrdia is sometimes hard to get rid of he got another dose of metronidazole, plus pill for tapeworm, plus Panacur to help with any other worms and parasites. However, it has been January when I first got him and he is still in my bathroom with diahrrea. Negative for giardia but had to send in an $180 test of his diarrhea to sample for other bacterias and he turned out to have a strain of clostridium and has been treated for 3 out of 4 weeks but the only thing to have disappeared is the mucusy look still very runny. When we first got the first Giarrdia diagnosis we had him on a high fiber/bland prescription food and the last 2 weeks have tried some live cultured yogurt with his food (which was gradually changed to science diet kitten and grain free nibbles by natures balance). My vet is runnin out of ideas. Did I forget to mention he has been treated for ringworm for 2 months and they are finally going away but the diarrhea hasn't stopped. Any ideas that you or your vet come up with or anyone else would be helpful?!?!?? My husband and I have also tried over the counter product called bena-bac? Too soon to really consider food allergies. His last diarrhea looked heavier and grainy but still super loose.

Posted by kathsgrdn: "Crazy, unbelieveable...well, maybe not, they're taking over so many private companies. Kinda scary." The government is not 'taking over' the cereal company. ------------ The FDA has rules that say that a product, any food or drug product, cannot make any medical benefits claims regarding it's use, without proof and scientific studies to back it up. There is a procedure to follow to allow a product to be sold making claims for health benefits. Many companies have followed the criteria and are allowed to print the health benefits on their packaging. FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration. They regulate all food and drug advertising and packaging - nothing new here. They regulate the safety of our food and drugs too. All they are saying is that Cheerios cannot advertise that it "lowers cholesterol" any more than they could advertise it to "grow hair" or "make you smarter" or "cure AIDS". The FDA is ordering them to stop advertising it as a cholesterol reducer or go through proper channels to scientifically prove that eating Cheerios really can lower cholesterol. (But it can't and everyone knows that.)

If your MD says you are deficient in some nutrient, try to eat more foods that contain that nutrient. (EAT, not consume as a liquid.) If that doesn't raise your levels adequately, ask your MD to recommend the dose and brand of supplement. Many supplements contain teeny amounts of the stated product --the maker doesn't want to be open to being sued if you have a bad reaction. There is no way to know the purity of a supplement -- or if it even is what it says it is. "More" of a supplement is useless if you don't need it or your body can't make us of it. You would need to consume some supplements in small doses throughout the day for your body to make use of them. That 300 mg pill at breakfast may be three times what your body can absorb; the rest is 'flushed'.