Your healing herbal pills are probably just powdered rice and weeds
BMC Medicine published a study by Canadian researchers who recently tested 44 bottles of popular dietary supplements sold by 12 companies. What they discovered is shocking. Many pills labeled as herbs were just diluted or filled with soybean, wheat, and rice.
BMC Medicine published a study by Canadian researchers who recently tested 44 bottles of popular dietary supplements sold by 12 companies. What they discovered is shocking. Many pills labeled as herbs were just diluted or filled with soybean, wheat, and rice.
Of 44 herbal supplements tested, one-third showed outright substitution, meaning there was no trace of the plant advertised on the bottle — only another plant in its place.
The researchers did not release the names of the brands they tested, but in two bottles labeled as St. John's wort, none of the herb was to be found. Instead they found rice, and Alexandrian senna, a powerful laxative. In ginko biloba supplements, they found black walnut, which could be deadly for consumers allergic to nuts.
Why is it so easy to dupe consumers?
The F.D.A. requires that companies test the products they sell to make sure that they are safe. But the system essentially operates on the honor code. Unlike prescription drugs, supplements are generally considered safe until proved otherwise.