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All Things Hoodia
Lab Testing and Hoodia - will the real Hoodia please stand up?
The number one question we get at Hoodia Advice is, "How can I be sure I am getting real Hoodia?" Seems
like a simple a question that should have a simple answer - but who ever said life is simple?
As we discuss on Hoodia-Advice.Org there are a number of documents, such as the
CITES Permit, that you should request to see the source of the Hoodia. However, the fact
that a company can produce a document is no guarantee that that document applies to what you
are buying from the company. For example, a company may have a valid CITES permit for
50 Kilos of Hoodia Gordonii from South Africa from 2005. The question then becomes, was
the supplement you are about to buy actually made from the Hoodia bought under CITES
permit in 2005? You really have no way of knowing if you just rely on the CITES or any
other import documentation. These documents, if authentic, simply tell you the company
you are dealing with has imported real Hoodia Gordonii at some point. These documents do not
help you determine if the supplement you are buying from the company is real Hoodia Gordonii.
If you want to determine what is in a capsule of a supplement marketed as Hoodia Gordonii, you
need to have the supplement lab tested. Okay, but what does lab tested really mean? When dealing
with botanicals, such as Hoodia, there are three lab tests that can help determine the authenticity
of a supplement.
Microscopy
In this test the sample of Hoodia is examined under a microscope (usually at 400x magnification). A well
trained technician examines the cellular structure of the sample and looks for patterns that match the
know cellular structure of Hoodia Gordonii. For example, it is known that pure Hoodia Gordonii has
long fibers with whirled striations so this something a technician would try to find when examining a
sample.
It is important to note that even if the Hoodia Gordonii plant has been dried, crushed, powdered and
processed - the cellular structure should still be intact. So, an authentic finished Hoodia Gordonii
supplement should still show the cellular structure of Hoodia when examined in a Microscopy test.
Click here for a sample of a Microscopy test
High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC)
The American Heritage Dictionary defines Chromatography as:
If you are like us - the above definition just leaves you scratching your head. In layman's terms - chromatography
is a process used to separate samples by the levels of absorbency of the sample.
High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) is the specific type of Chromatography used
to test for Hoodia Gordonii in a sample. With HPTLC first a know reference sample of Hoodia Gordonii
is tested. This produces a plate with varying colors for separation over time.
While the technical data gets beyond the scope of this article, the idea is that the HPTLC provides
a fingerprint of what authentic Hoodia Gordonii looks like when separated under HPTLC. To confirm that
a Hoodia supplement is really Hoodia, an HPTLC test is done to see if the Hoodia in question matches
the fingerprint of the known Hoodia Gordonii.
Here is a sample of a HPTLC test of Hoodia
In this example - the reference Hoodia is in Lane 4 and Lane 5, the sample being tested is in
Lane 7. As you can see the separation pattern in Lane 7 matches Lane 4 and Lane 5, therefore
the sample has a high probability of being authentic Hoodia Gordonii.
What is interesting with HPTLC is you do not need to know what components make up the Hoodia Gordonii
plant. The above test says nothing about what the analytes are in Hoodia Gordonii - but it does provide
a fingerprint of how Hoodia Gordonii reacts in chromatography.
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
HPLC is another form of Chromatography that is often used in analytical chemistry to identify analytes
in a sample. In HPLC the sample is injected through a liquid and the response time of
certain components of the sample are measured.
HPLC tests are used to detect the presence of P57 in a sample. As we discuss on the website, P57 is an
active ingredient in Hoodia, so if a test shows that a sample has P57 you can be confident that the
sample is Hoodia Gordonii.
It is important to note that the current state of Hoodia testing using HPLC is qualitative NOT
quantitative. This means that the HPLC is useful in determining if P57 is present in a sample, but it
is not accurate enough to determine the quantity of P57 in a sample.
The Whole is Greater than the Sum of
the Parts
You might be wondering - why do you need to do 3 tests for Hoodia Gordonii? The reason is no one test is
100% accurate - there is always the chance for false positives and false negatives. However, when you apply
3 different tests to a sample and they all come back positive for Hoodia Gordonii, it greatly reduces the
odds of an test error.
Conclusions
If you want to be sure the Hoodia Gordonii supplement you are buying is authentic, make sure
you see the results of the three lab tests described above. You also want to make sure that the lab
tests were done on the exact LOT Number of finished product that you are buying.
What lab should do the testing? In our experience,
Alkemists Labs has the experience and expertise to most accurately complete the above tests.
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