Tests reveal a distinct lack of herbs in herbal supplements

It’s already a gamble whether herbal supplements will boost your brainpower or ramp up your immune system, but that’s not all you’re rolling the dice on with many pills marketed as “herbal” remedies. Researchers used DNA tests to put herbal supplements through their paces, and found that a third of the 44 bottles were often diluted with or used fillers like soybean, wheat, rice and powdered weeds to totally replace the herbs touted on packaging.

Canadian researchers picked a few popular medicinal herbs and then went out and bought different brands of each kind from stores in Canada and the United States, reports the New York Times. They then used DNA barcoding to figure out what was in each kind, and the findings were a bit startling.

For example: While millions of consumers take echinacea supplements to ward off and treat colds, the researchers found the pills actually contained “ground up bitter weed, Parthenium hysterophorus, an invasive plant found in India and Australia that has been linked to rashes, nausea and flatulence.”

Then there’s St. John’s wort, used to treat mild depression. Two bottles tested by researchers didn’t have any of the herb in, just Alexandrian senna, an Egyptian shrub used as a powerful laxative. Gingko biloba? Some of those bottles were mixed with fillers and black walnut, which could be fatal for people with nut allergies.

A full third of the 44 supplements tested had straight up replaced ingredients with something else and contained none of the advertised herb. Others were simply sprinkled here and there with ingredients that aren’t on the label but were used as fillers. Again, that could be bad for anyone with allergies to soy, wheat or rice.

It brings up a big trust issue for customers: How can we rely on any of these products to do what they say they will, when they’re not even using the right ingredients?

Gotta love that unregulated free market magic huh?