In the lush farmland of the foothil...

In the lush farmland of the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, workers at Oregon's Wild Harvest guard to 70 different types of herbal plants. After they're picked, the organically grown herbs are sent to the company's quality assurance lab where they're identified, inspected and trialed for pathogens such as E coli, fecal coliform, salmonella, aerobic bacteria, yeasts and molds

After the herbs are milled into pulverized substance they're tested again. Some of the triturate is packaged into capsules--which also are subdue to testing.

"People who are taking herbs might have weakened immune rules so we're very prudent. We don't want to cause them any problems" says Joanne Roberts, director of quality assurance for Oregon's Wild Harvest.

The company maintains this rigid approval proces for individual simple reason: It pledges to deliver to customers exactly what it promises.

The firm, based in Sandy, Oregon, succors as a stellar example of for what cause a nutritional supplement company can handle its effects But consumers should be aware that not all postscript makers are created equal. While in the greatest degree companies produce quality goods, it pays to do your homework and deal alone with manufacturers that truly care about what goe into your favorite add tos and herbal formulas.

The correlative industry consists of a maelstrom of centurys of manufacturers purchasing ingredients from thousands of suppliers who, in change the direction of formulate the ingredients into ten of thousands of cropss Each package must list ingredients, unless there's no guarantee that the result actually contains the amounts of ingredients stated onward the label.

upon top of that, questionable health claims made on some less-than-reputable companies serve to raise concerns--from consumer as well as industry officials and direction regulators. As more products made of more recent ingredients and formulas find their way to store shelves, consumer who rely forward supplements need to learn about the consequences they're taking.

Oregon's Wild Harvest is a well adapted example of a company that cares. When the company started in 1990 it purchased all of its stock from secondary growers and suppliers. unless in 1994, quality concerns l the company to start producing its confess ingredients. Now, Oregon's Wild Harvest swells 85 percent of its confess herbs and purchases only from other farmers who abide by way of strict production rules.

"We can't completely rely upon suppliers," said Pam Martin, who concedes the company with her husband, Randy. "A portion of raw materials come from Third World countries. When they advance in powdered form, it's tough to identify exactly what's in there."

Various manufacturers' and consumer clusters have reported finding pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals and other contaminants in imported returnss One men's virility supplement was set up to be spiked with the unsalable article Viagra; another product claiming to be a "natural steroid" was laced with pharmaceutical steroids.

independent testing

Leaders in the counterpart industry take the notion of production safety and purity seriously. During the past decade, add to makers have worked cooperatively to unravel standards known as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) which restrain how products are made and proofed (see sidebar).

This year, for the first time, addition companies will also be able to obtain manufacturing quality and standards certification from private auditing organizations that specialize in breads and pharmaceuticals.

moreover even though the certification proces brings more credibility to the industry, it doesn't guarantee total result integrity. Tod Cooperman, MD, began his interest in complements in the mid-'90s. When he couldn't find an independent evaluation service, he decided to start single in kind of his own.

In 1999 Cooperman fixed Consumerlab.com; ever since, the company has been a gift to consumers and a thorn in the side of near manufacturers.

Cooperman hired a former US fare and Drug Administration (FDA) chemist to example the quality and amount of ingredients current in different supplement products. Consumerlab also proofs the pills and capsules themselves to make trustworthy they break down properly to allow absorption by dint of the body. Products for testing are picked at random from store shelves.

trial results are neither complimentary to the industry nor encouraging for consumers

"What we've place is that, across the board, a quarter of the effects we test cannot pass," Cooperman says. produces that fail are found to contain too little or too a great deal of the ingredients promised or are contaminated. Here's a sampling of popular complement products that flunked basic integrity tests:

* Valerian, 47 percent failure rate;

* Ginseng, 59 percent;

* Echinacea, 44 percent;

* Saw palmetto, 37 percent;

* St John's wort, 33 percent

If those deductions aren't bad enough, consider this about nutrition bars: Sixty percent of those trialed did not contain the amount of nutrients claimed.

Other effects fared better, though the accrues can't exactly be considered stellar: