What is the potency of your hoodia? Until recently, the supplements contained the wild grown variety of hoodia. However the supplements have started to focus on cultivated hoodia gordonii of late. The species is the same, it has been picked from the wild and planted on the farm so what's the difference? Its potency.  

One of the largest importers of Hoodia tells that the wild grown hoodia have much higher levels of P57 in them than the farm-grown ones. The reason behind it is simple. The wild ones have been allowed to grow far longer than the 5-6 years, which are required for the Hoodia plant to acquire all its appetite suppressant qualities and principles. However, the farm-grown variety is immediately harvested at the pre-scheduled term. The cultivated hoodia is harvested too soon (sometimes within a span of as short as three years) much before it reaches its maximum potency which renders your supplement ineffective.    

There are dual claims that natural hoodia is totally extinct and the hoodia in use is the cultivated variety only, whereas there are some who say that natural hoodia is still available. They claim further that the cultivated hoodia is as effective as the wild hoodia gordonii, so no need to worry.    

There are independent tests conducted by labs all the time to determine the quality and potency of the pills they test the authenticity but not the levels of P57 in the pill. Are such tests possible for each pill and each bottle of hoodia, how much would it cost to analyze all of them.    

Also if hoodia is already not depleted it will be soon, so we will have to depend on the cultivated one. That brings us back to the question of potency - of the crop grown on a nutrient-depleted land, the time allowed for the P57 to maximize etc. Also are the hoodia supplements made today as potent as the ones made in 1995?  

We are not going to reach a conclusive answer very soon, as even though the CITES protects Hoodia from extinction, even if we allow the hoodia potential to maximize before harvest only the consumer can monitor their own responses and give feedbacks about the dosage, the weight loss and the suppressed hunger in consumption of the pill, probably the supplements taken today may be less potent than those made and consumed in the past, than more dosage may be required hence a proof that the Hoodia is less potent.