A New York attorney general is pulling herbal supplements from store shelves after testing herbal supplements was conducted that concluded that 80 percent of the herbal supplements are making false claims. The test included 78 different top-selling brands of herbal supplements that are sold by Walmart, GNC, Walgreens, and Target and analyzing the ingredients using DNA barcoding.
The results of the testing found that four or five of the supplements not only were using false advertising, but they didn’t even have the herbs that were listed on the bottles. Most used fillers of a stingy variety, which includes ingredients like asparagus and powdered rice. A high selling brand from Walmart only contained wheat, houseplants, and radish. Half of the brands tested from Target didn’t have any ingredients that were listed on the labels.
The FDA does not oversee herbal supplements because they are meant to contain the herbs that are on the label. They only do a case-by-case basis testing, so they aren’t directly regulated by any health authority. Because of the investigation the four retailers have been sent a cease and desist letters from the New York Attorney General is demanding that they stop selling these products and detail how they test these supplements for quality assurance. Walgreens agreed to stop selling the supplements in all of their stores. Walmart said they would “take appropriate action” and they will communicate with their suppliers. A spokesperson from GNC said the retailer would cooperate with the state in “all appropriate ways,” while still defending their products. GNC says their products are tested “using validated and widely used testing methods.” Target has yet to respond.
I only use Sources Natural Wellness formula.