Not all herbal supplements are equal

Do you take herbal supplements? The sad news is you might not be getting what you pay for.

In a study published in the journal BMC Medicine, Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of herbal supplements bought in Canada and the United States. A full one-third of the samples tested were adulterated; they did not have any of the key ingredients they promised.

Cheap fillers like rice, soybean and wheat were used in place of actual ingredients people were paying big money to take, according to The New York Times. (The study's authors decided not to reveal any product names to avoid singling out a sole company.)

Here’s are some quick highlights of the study’s findings:

• Bottles of echinacea supplements contained ground bitter weed, a plant linked to rashes, nausea and flatulence.
• One bottle of St. John's wort was wholly made of ground rice, while another contained a known laxative called Alexandrian senna. Neither of the two bottles tested contained the common active ingredient in St. John's wort called Hypericum perforatum.
• Gingko biloba supplements contained fillers and black walnut, the latter of which could be a potential threat to anyone with a tree nut allergy.

Twenty years ago, Congress made a stupid decision to stop overseeing the herbal supplement industry. So now it’s essentially the Wild West. You have supposedly legit companies spending heavy marketing dollars and putting garbage in their products.

There’s no foolproof way to protect yourself, but I suggest you only buy USP (United States Pharmacopeia) certified supplements. The USP seal is the mark of the industry’s attempt at self-regulation. Other than that, know it’s buyer beware.