Purity Standards in Herbal Supplements - The Hoodia Example

Herbal supplement purity standards and "grades" are extremely important in the world of herbal medicine, natural, cures, and alternative treatments. If a product is "watered down" or drastically altered from it's natural state, it's efficacy (effectiveness for its intended purpose in the human body) can be greatly diminished. A perfect example of this is the African cactus called hoodia gordonii, which has recently gotten oodles of media focus for it's natural appetite suppressing powers and subsequent weight loss benefits. Pure hoodia extract and powder was found to have a potent molecule which sent signals to the human brain of fullness of the stomach, and not to eat any more, staving off appetite, and resulting in a related weight loss and effective appetite suppression for those who consumed it in its pure and intended form. The Hoodia herbal supplement only works to reduce appetite in it's purest form, ground up and dried , with no additives whatsoever and minimal processing. Anything other than the pure form did not have the same appetite-suppressing qualities as the true, pure form of the plantat its highest grade. Hoodia is just one example of a "fad" cure. There are many other herbal medicines that fall into this same category of reliance on purity and grading to be effective enough in the human body to fulfill the products promise. Herbal supplements designed for other purposes, such as depression, pain relief, increased brain function and focus, anti aging and skin supplements and more, are ALL subject to this same standard of purity. If a natural health product is not pure and minimally processed, you might as well be throwing your hard earned money away - it most likely will not achieve it's advertised feature. There are a lot of natural cures that really are a waste of money, hope and time because they are not processed correctly, the manufacturers use the incorrect part of the plant that is intended to cure an ailment, or are watered down, more cheaply made imitations of the real thing. As with everything else in life, higher quality usually comes with a higher price tag. You should always read the labels and look for fillers you may not recognize. The names of neutral fillers, or inactive ingredients are supposed to be labeled accordingly, but are not always, so take notice, and try to be as informed a consumer as possible when shopping for natural health products. If a natural remedy is not labeled as 100% natural, you are probably getting more filler ingredients than you bargained for, as well as a reduced purity of the active herbal ingredient itself.