Herb Information

The Ingredients & Medicinal Form

Herb information on the label of herbal supplements tell about the ingredients used in particular herbal formulation. Reading this useful data, we can make some impression about the product and the research that had been behind the particular supplement.

Various Kinds Of Supplements:

All the supplements can be placed in of the following categories.

1. Dietary Or Nutritional Supplements: Such food supplements contain the normal parts of food - carbohydrate, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals. These are used as additives or to fortify our dietary intake of these basic elements of diet.

2. Herbal Or Botanical Supplements: These contain chiefly herbs or botanicals but their clear intention is not to have some therapeutic effect. Or they are not marketed to affect us like therapeutic products are marketed. According to FDA they are also put under Dietary or Food Supplements.

3. Herbal & Botanical Supplements For Therapeutic Effects: These herbal supplements are having therapeutic claims. They are used as adjuvants or supportive along with drugs. Some of them could be used as alternative to standard medical drugs. Ideally these products should be available after proper clinical research trials.

Regulations Are Different From Countries To Countries:

Regulatory Authorities are different in various countries. Like FDA in USA and Drug Inspector Of India in India are the controlling authorities for such products.

FDA is responsible for the safety of herbal supplements only after the product is marketed. It is the primary responsibility of Manufacturer to identify the clinical research resources for various claims or benefits of the supplements.

The herb information on the label should be according to NLEA that are part of final rules published in the Federal Register in 1992 and 1993. FDA's rules implement the provisions of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA), which, among other things, requires nutrition labeling for most foods (except meat and poultry) and authorizes the use of nutrient content claims and appropriate FDA-approved health claims.

Indian law and regulations are definitely better and more stringent in this regard. However the practical trouble is many times with their implementations as there are tremendously large number of companies in this field. The Indian Government is becoming more active for establishing the safety of the exported products as well as those used along the lines are Ayurveda and other traditional supplements.

However, most of Ayurvedic botanicals are treated as medicine or drug and not merely as dietary supplements in India. Modern Research is validating most of the Ayurveda based products the world over. More info in this regard will be given in another article.

The Form Of Medicinal Herbs In Preparation:

Choosing the right herbal supplement is primarily our responsibility as it might affect our health or disease favorably or not that much favorably as it should. For that we have to search and analyze some herb information that is presented by most manufacturers.

Mild Herbal Supplements With Crude Herbs:

Mild herbal supplements use primarily the crude form of botanicals like the powder of ashwagandha, arjuna or any other medicinal herb. These can aid to some extent but mostly they are not useful and don't serve the purpose of their use. The effects are mostly equivalent to placebo or 'test sugar pills'.

The manufacturer can list great herb information on the label. We can be easily drawn to the supplement. Many times we might even pay the similar price as with other stronger and better products. So always look the form of botanicals that are used in the preparation.

Herbal Supplements With Extracts Of Botanicals:

The same good looking label can have the extract form of botanicals. They are better choices in terms of money and it also serves the intended purpose in a better way.

The extract of Ashwagandha is sufficient in the dose of 300 mg (10:1) or in 500 mg (5:1). If you are going to use this botanical in crude form, choose at least 2-3 gm of powder or 5 gm of granules prepared by adding the same quantity of sugar. You will get the beneficial herb information.

Check For The Standardization:

The standardized products can have differing standardization of the various ingredients. Many times there can be some standard norm that is followed by most companies. Say 100 mg of 50% bacosides standardized Bacopa extract is equivalent to 200 mg of 25% bacosides standardized Bacopa product.

The alcoholic extracts are usually milder than the aqueous extracts. Always find out the absolute crude dose of the particular botanical and then calculate that how much of the botanical is offered in the product.

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