AW: which powders are best?

[Guest guest]

Bob et al.

 

The difficulty with the concentration ratios vis-a-vis granular extracts is

that they vary not only from company to company but also from medicinal to

medicinal. Furthermore, I even suspect that they change from batch to batch

by at least a little bit.

 

Some people on this list have said that, for example, KPC make 5:1 extracts.

That is only an average. Some are more, others are much less. How do you

make a 5:1 extract of Mang Xiao, Shi Jue Ming, Mu Li, etc? Plus, the

concentration ratio is generally calculated in the following way: 12 grams

of raw herbs are used to produce 2 grams of extract. This then makes a 6:1

concentration. But then comes the real bummer...the starch (wheat starch,

corn starch, etc.) is added after the calculation has been made. And the

amount of starch added is not small. Generally, it is somewhere around

30-40%. Calculate that into the 6:1 and you end up with more like a 3.5:1.

So the concentration ratio of 5:1 is really not a very correct number when

it comes to KPC and other Taiwanese production facilities (such as Shen Fong

which produces for Evergreen, etc.). In reality, the concentration seems to

be much lower.

 

The other problem with doing such a comparative analysis is that not all

companies are honest (and they often have good reasons for it...;-)).

Checking the amount of starch in a product is exceedingly difficult.

Qualitative analysis, such as fingerprinting for identity and certain active

ingredients is one thing. Determining the amount of substance (quantitative

analysis) is more difficult and especially much more expensive.

 

As the person in charge of quality for Chinese medicinals in a Swiss Chinese

medical company, I would like to add my two cents about the impurties issue.

Since beginning my job, I have collected quite some experiences with

pesticides, heavy metals, aflatoxins, aristolochic acid (AA) etc.

Unfortunately, I have to say that especially heavy metals, aflatoxins and

aristolochic acid are still a big problem in the herbal products coming from

Taiwan. Just because one has a positive TLC picture for, let's say

Stephania, Mu Tong, this is by no means proof for negativity as far as AA is

concerned. I have seen these kind of tests too many times...if a quarter of

the batch comes from an aristolochia plant (and that happens), then the end

product contains AA, no matter how the TLC looks. Plus, it is extremely

difficult to find, for example, Semen Biotae Orientalis without aflatoxins.

As far as crude herbs are concerned, I have yet to see a negative batch.

With granules, there are clean batches once in a while. Plus I suggest to

interested people to test yan hu suo for aflatoxins. I would almost

guarantee a high B1 count (but that is an entirely different story and needs

more analysis.) My point is that before beginning to look for ratios, I

would check for impurities.

 

The problem in the US is that there are no laws requiring testing (at least

not that I am aware of). Sometimes we order products from the US and test

them prior to selling them. Unfortunately, I have found all kinds of toxins,

most strikingly aflatoxins, cadmium (our limit is 0.5 here, I believe it is

higher in the US. However, Cd levels of 0.9 seem a bit high to me), and

Aristolochic acid.

 

So even though I support the idea of such a comparative statistic, I am

afraid that it would not be a good one unless someone wants to put in a

couple of 100,000 US Dollars. Unless the products are tested and verified,

this comparative analysis would be as good as useless.

 

Simon Becker