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.

There are a number of websites that promote or sell hoodia supplements that say "as seen on 60 minutes" or "endorsed by" followed by the logos of the BBC or the 60 minutes program. This is a misrepresentation because it leads many consumers to believe that the product being sold is endorsed by these two media giants. When, in all actuality, neither of them have endorsed or tested a hoodia diet supplement.

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.

In regards to the BBC, they did a documentary on hoodia in 2003. BBC correspondent, Tom Mangold, also took a trip to the Kalahari Desert to test the hoodia gordonii plant on his own appetite. Mangold and his camera man both took a small piece of the hoodia plant and ate it. They both reported they, "did not even think about food" for the remainder of the day. What was even more amazing about their report was they said they weren't hungry for breakfast the following day and their appetite at lunch was still virtually nonexistent.

Just like the hoodia 60 Minutes report, Mangold's BBC report did not involve the testing of any hoodia products and it did not endorse a particular hoodia diet pill. The reports by Stahl and Mangold were on the plant itself, not supplements. Neither tried a hoodia product or mentioned a specific brand of hoodia supplement.

Any website that is trying to sell their hoodia product by claiming it was seen on 60 Minutes or the BBC is lying. As you can see, the hoodia 60 minutes and BBC reports have been misrepresented. Any company that has to be dishonest to sell their products shouldn't be trusted. It makes me wonder what else they are exaggerating or out right lying about to make a sell?