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Herbal
Sleep Products
May Lack Active Ingredient
By
Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Some insomniacs hoping to catch up on their sleep with
the help of the herbal sleep aid valerian may be getting less
than they bargained for. A report released by ConsumerLab.com
shows that many products that claim they contain the herb actually
may contain little or none of the species listed on the label.
``Almost half
of the 17 products that we tested failed,'' Dr. Tod Cooperman,
president of ConsumerLab.com in White Plains, New York, said in
an interview with Reuters Health.
``Four of
the products contained no valerian marker compounds and four others
contained half the amount stated on the product labels,'' he added.
ConsumerLab.com,
a private company, licenses its flask-shaped ``Seal of Approved
Quality'' to companies whose dietary supplements pass testing
and want to pay for use of the seal on their products.
In their current
round of testing, the company evaluated 17 products that claimed
to contain the herbal supplement valerian root, most commonly
touted by herbal supplement manufacturers as a sleep aid. All
of the products were purchased by ConsumerLab.com in stores between
October and November 2000.
Seven of the
products were valerian extracts, six were valerian powders and
four were combinations of the two, according to the report made
available by ConsumerLab.com to Reuters Health.
Chemical analysis
of the products found that four of the products did not contain
any valerenic acids, compounds which are believed to signify ``good
quality valerian,'' according to ConsumerLab.com. Three of these
products stated that they contained Valeriana officinalis and
the fourth said it contained valerian, Cooperman explained.
Another four
of the products contained about half the amount of valerian stated
on the package label, the report indicates.
``While these
products looked and smelled like valerian, they lacked certain
chemical markers that would identify them as coming from Valeriana
officinalis,'' Cooperman told Reuters Health. While there are
several types of valerian, Valeriana officinalis is ``the species
for which most supporting clinical evidence exists,'' according
to the company.
``This may
be an indication that the other products may be using the wrong
species of valerian and would be expected to contain higher levels
of compounds that may be potentially hazardous,'' Cooperman said.
While the
findings may or may not have implications for human safety, the
report only underscores the fact that dietary and herbal supplements
may benefit from tighter regulation.
Consumers
will spend an estimated $15.7 billion in 2001 on herbal and dietary
supplements. According to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education
Act of 1994, supplement manufacturers are required to have in
their files substantiation of any claims they make about how the
product affects the structure or function of the body. They must
also notify the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of claims that
they are making within 30 days of marketing a given dietary supplement.
However, the
FDA does not regulate ingredients in supplements or dosage levels.
Reference
Source 89
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