What's important to know is that these other patches are prescription based (although nicotine patches can now by purchased OTC, but they started off prescription).
What this means is that they had to undergo rigorous scientific, clinical studies before they could hit the market and claim they are effective.
To the contrary, no hoodia patch on the market is prescription based, and none had to undergo efficacy studies....so there is just no way they can claim that they work better than hoodia pills and capsules.
2. The Sans Bushmen,
the tribe in South Africa that has been using hoodia for thousands of years and first discovered its properties, do not use the hoodia diet patch. This may sound like I'm trying to be cute or sarcastic, but I'm actually making a very important point.
If you think about it, they cut off a piece of the plant, skin it, and eat the core to derive its appetite suppressing benefits.
Now, ask yourself the simple question: what would be more closer to what the Sans Bushmen do: stick a patch on the body allegedly transferring the hoodia benefits or swallow a capsule that is made up of whole hoodia plant that has been ground up and put into a pill? Exactly.
3. Phytopharm,
the company that owns the patent rights to the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii, called P57 conducted a clinical double-blind, placebo-controlled study using the active ingredient (P57) that is a hoodia gordonii extract -- NOT some new fangled hoodia patch.
In fact, if you look at Phytopharm's website, you will see the statement: "Only Phytopharm's patented Hoodia gordonii product is botanically verified to contain pure Hoodia gordonii and has quantified levels of the chemical constituents that produce the anti-obesity effects."
Trust us, they would not be saying that if it weren't true since they would face serious legal consequences as an established pharmaceutical company.
So, what does that fact tell you? It tells you no seller of hoodia diet patch can even say their product conclusively works for weight loss, much less claim it works better than hoodia capsules or pills!
Now don't get me wrong...I'm not saying every hoodia pill or capsule product on the market is going to be good either. On the contrary, many of the products floating around have been found to be fraudulent -- that is, not even contain any real hoodia gordonii in it.
But, if given the choice to use a hoodia capsule made with genuine South African hoodia gordonii or a hoodia patch, we'd much rather opt for the capsules.
Perhaps there will come a day in the future where there will be a hoodia diet patch proven to work effectively in real, clinical studies...but until that day, we'll pass on the patch.