Quality of Herbs and Supplements
Most people tend to think any herb or supplement is the same, no matter where they are gotten. The truth is, there is great variability in quality of herbs and supplements. There are many factors that effect what is in your herbs and supplements: purity of ingredients, freshness of ingredients, bio-availability of ingredients, and added fillers/binders.
Since there is little regulation in these areas, it is up to each herb and supplement manufacturer to test of all of the above. Many companies do not do this because of the cost. The most reputable companies will do this testing.
Purity of ingredients is very important. Is what is in the bottle actually what it says on the label? If yes, is there as much of it as there should be? Are there any contaminants? How fresh are the ingredients? Have the raw materials been sitting around too long, losing their potency? These are questions that need to be asked, and properly tested for.
Bio-availability of the ingredients is also very important. If the human body does not absorb it, it is useless to you. Often times, those cheap ‘once a day” supplements have been crammed together at such high pressure, they end up just coming out the other side of you the next day after you take them! Bio-availability of the product needs to be tested, and that is an expense many companies will not pay for.
Any reputable company will have done all the testing above, and will be willing to send you copies of all the data and testing they have done on any batch of their products. The best is when they also send out samples for what is called “third party assays". Samples are sent to an independent company, and they do similar tests assessing all the factors above. Herb and supplement manufacturers will also be willing to send you the results of those tests.
All products that Dr. Prego carries are from companies that do the above, and Dr. Prego has researched the data and is satisfied that the products he carries fulfills all of the above. This way, when he suggests an herb or supplement, you know what you are taking is exactly what you should be getting, absorbing well, and functioning as it should.
