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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 have not been able to prove there is a hoodia Oprah connection. I have been to Oprah’s website and searched for “hoodia Oprah”, as well as just plain “hoodia,” and no results were found for either. I have never read anything that proves Oprah has used hoodia, or that she has featured it on her show. Until I find evidence that tells me different, I don’t believe that there is a hoodia Oprah connection.

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 remaining text of the piece talks about the race between pharmaceutical firms to discover the latest miracle weight loss supplement. There is no mention of hoodia gordonii past the first two paragraphs. As you can see, the magazine does not mention a hoodia Oprah connection, or endorse that Oprah uses the weight loss supplement herself.

It surprises me that Oprah hasn’t started legal proceedings against the websites that use her name, and the name of her magazine, to endorse their hoodia products. I’m sure it is only a matter of time before Oprah’s legal department takes action against these websites. The truth is Oprah has not endorsed hoodia, and there is no hoodia Oprah connection.

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