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.

It is all too common to see the words, "Endorsed by" or "As featured on" and then see the CBS 60 Minutes logo and the BBC logo on websites that are promoting or selling hoodia supplements. This makes people who are shopping for hoodia supplements believe that the products on these websites have been endorsed by 60 Minutes and the BBC. The truth is these two media companies never mentioned a specific hoodia diet pill, tested or endorsed one.

60 minutes did do a hoodia story on November 21, 2004. Reporter, Leslie Stahl, went to the Kalahari Desert in South Africa to see the hoodia gordonii plant growing in the wild. She wanted to eat a small piece of it herself to see if it affected her appetite. After eating the plant, Stahl reported the hoodia gordonii plant worked to suppress her appetite and she wasn't hungry the entire day.

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.

Another example of how shady marketers are trying to get you to believe a lie is they have used the same tactics with the hoodia BBC report. Tom Mangold, BBC correspondent, did a show on hoodia in 2003. He, too, went to the Kalahari Desert to see for himself if the hoodia gordonii plant would affect his appetite. Not only did Mangold eat a small piece of the plant, but his camera man also ate a small piece of the hoodia gordonii plant. Afterwards they said they, "did not even think about food" that day. They went on to say they weren't hungry for breakfast the following morning and their appetites for lunch were almost nonexistent.

Again, you'll notice the BBC story did not even test a specific hoodia supplement, let alone endorse one. Just as Leslie Stahl had done in her 60 Minutes story, Tom Mangold of the BBC actually ate the plant itself. Neither reporter tried a specific hoodia product. And they certainly didn't endorse a specific brand.

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?