Questions You Should Answer Before Purchasing Herbal Products

Anytime you are buying a natural herb product you should do some minimal research on the company producing the product.   Whether you are purchasing from a store shelf or the internet, here are 5 important questions you should know the answers to before you purchase.

1.  What steps are taken to ensure the highest quality raw herb materials from individual crop batches?  Are the herbs selected according to the latest research?  What technologies are used to match the correct herb species through microscopic and chemical tests?  Ok, so that’s really three questions, but they are all important.  Go to the company web site and check out the manufacturer.  If they don’t have a web site, find another product.  If the website does not provide this information, again, I repeat, find another product.

2.  Are the herbs cooked in a traditional manner?  If so, what is the decoction time, temperature, and water-to-herb ratio?  How are the herbs processed?  Are essential oils recaptured during the cooking process?  This information again can usually be found on a company website.  If a company is not disclosing their herb cooking procedures or whether or not they cook their herbs in the first place, you should try to find out or find another supplier.  Raw uncooked herbs do carry risks of e-coli etc., which leads to the next question.

3.  Are the products tested by independent FDA-approved laboratories?  Has anyone tested for bacteria, fungi, etc. at multiple stages of herb collection and manufacturing? Independent testing agencies do exist and a company that pays the extra to have their products checked out by, for example, consumerlabs.com is worth checking out.

4.  Does the herb manufacturer list on their label the amount of active constituents and the amount of filler or starch present in the product?  Often, labels are confusing and must be read with a fine tooth comb.  Too often the consumer doesn’t know what to look for when buying herbs.  Do your homework first.  You should know how much active ingredients you need in order to experience the desired effect.  If the product has 300 mg per pill but you know that 800 mg is necessary to get the desired effect, you need to consider how many pills you must take.  This should also weigh into price comparison.

Your best bet is to find the top quality herb manufacturers and stick only to their products.  There’s a lot of garbage sold on store shelves, but there’s also a lot of really excellent herb products out there.  Don’t throw your money away on herb products that don’t work simply because you didn’t do the research.  Spend a little time surfing the web or go to a health food store with an excellent reputation of hiring knowledgeable staff to point you in the right direction.  There are many excellent herb products on the market that can make a dramatic difference in your health.