The New York State attorney general’s office have accused four national retailers of selling dietary supplements that were contaminated with unlisted ingredients and had little to none of the ingredients listed on the packs.
Nytimes.com reports:
The authorities said they had run tests on popular store brands of herbal supplements at the retailers — Walmart, Walgreens, Target and GNC — which showed that roughly four out of five of the products contained none of the herbs listed on their labels. In many cases, the authorities said, the supplements contained little more than cheap fillers like rice and house plants, or substances that could be hazardous to people with food allergies.
At GNC, for example, the agency found that five out of six samples from the company’s signature “Herbal Plus” brand of supplements “were either unrecognizable or a substance other than what they claimed to be.” In pills labeled ginkgo biloba, the agency found only rice, asparagus and spruce, an ornamental plant commonly used for Christmas decorations.
At Target, the agency tested six herbal products from its popular “Up and Up” store brand of supplements. Three out of six – including ginkgo biloba, St. John’s wort and valerian root, a sleep aid – tested negative for the herbs listed on their labels. But the agency did find that the pills contained powdered rice, beans, peas and wild carrots.
Here are the products that were analyzed by the attorney general, along with the test results that were described in cease-and-desist letters that the agency sent to the four retailers.
From GNC, Herbal Plus brand:
Gingko Biloba:
No gingko biloba found
Did detect allium (garlic), rice, spruce and asparagusSt. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Did detect allium (garlic), rice and dracaena (a tropical houseplant)Ginseng
No ginseng found
Did detect rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrusGarlic
Contained garlic
Echinacea
No echinacea found
Did detect rice in some samplesSaw Palmetto
One sample contained the clear presence of palmetto
Other samples contained a variety of ingredients, including asparagus, rice and primroseFrom Target, Up & Up brand
Gingko Biloba
No gingko biloba found
Found garlic, rice and mung/French beanSt. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Found garlic, rice and dracaena (houseplant)Garlic
Contained garlic
One test identified no DNAEchinacea
Most but not all tests detected Echinacea
One test identified riceSaw Palmetto
Most tests detected saw palmetto
Some tests found no plant DNAValerian Root
No valerian root found
Found allium, bean, asparagus, pea family, rice, wild carrot and saw palmetto
From Walgreens, Finest Nutrition brand
Gingko Biloba
No gingko biloba found
Did detect riceSt. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Detected garlic, rice and dracaenaGinseng
No ginseng found
Detected garlic and riceGarlic
No garlic found
Detected palm, dracaena, wheat and riceEchinacea
No echinacea found
Identified garlic, rice and daisySaw Palmetto
Contained saw palmetto
From Walmart, Spring Valley brand
Gingko Biloba
No gingko biloba found
Found rice, dracaena, mustard, wheat and radishSt. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Detected garlic, rice and cassavaGinseng
No ginseng found
Found rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrusGarlic
One sample showed small amounts of garlic
Found rice, pine, palm, dracaena and wheatEchinacea
No echinacea or plant material found
Saw Palmetto
Some samples contained small amounts of saw palmetto
Also found garlic and rice
