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If you’ve shopped around for hoodia online you’ve likely read about the supposed hoodia Oprah connection. You’ve probably seen claims that Oprah Winfrey endorses hoodia or that she uses it herself to reach her weight loss goals. You may have even seen such bold claims that Oprah endorses a specific hoodia product. You’ll be surprised to learn that there may not be any truth behind the hoodia Oprah connection.

I’ve seen some claims that hoodia was “seen on Oprah” or that “Oprah uses hoodia,” but I haven’t seen any evidence to support these claims. I’ve never heard of hoodia being featured on her television show nor have I read anything that supports the claims that she has used it. In fact, if you go to her website and search for the term, “hoodia” or “hoodia Oprah” you don’t get any search results. Until I can find concrete evidence that she talked about it on her television show or that she uses it, I don’t believe there is any Oprah hoodia connection as far as her television show is concerned.

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 article opens with the first two paragraphs briefly talking about the history of hoodia and the popularity of hoodia diet pills. However, the article doesn’t talk very highly of hoodia supplements. In fact, here is a direct quote from the article, “So far, however, there’s little proof that the supplements are even mildly effective: Most contain only small, probably insignificant levels of Hoodia extract” This is hardly a ringing endorsement for hoodia supplements - let alone a specific brand of hoodia!

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.

With so many websites using Oprah’s name to make consumers believe there is a hoodia Oprah connection, there is bound to be some legal actions taken in the future. Oprah’s legal department will no doubt come down on these people. They are twisting a small mention of hoodia in an article in Oprah’s magazine to make it appear that Oprah herself endorses their brand of hoodia, when in all honesty, that is just not true.

Tags: Health

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