Comment · Fri, February 6, 2015 · Ceretropic
Fake herbal supplements. How to know?
Original post in this thread
NellucEcon · 34 points
A news article about the prevalence of fake herbal supplements recently made it to the front page of reddit. I couldn't find the original, so here is a similar article:
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/news/20150203/retailers-fake-supplements
My question is, how do we verify the quality of products? Single drug compounds are probably easier to verify for a number of reasons. For example, adrafinil is a yellowish-white powder, tastes like death, produces an unmistakable urine odor, and has substantial subjective effects in responders. Of course this does not rule out cutting agents that might make dosing hard or impurities that could be unhealthy. In addition, this method works only for those drugs so obviously characterized. Compounds without a distinctive flavor or appearance would be difficult to identify. And compounds whose effects are subtle would be difficult to gauge by subjective experience.
All these problems are more severe for herbal supplements because they typically lack distinctive characteristics, particularly when crushed up and placed in a capsule. And most of their effects are subtle. And lab tests for authenticity require DNA testing.…
What they were answering
AHugeFag · 1 points
If I'm interpreting this comment thread correctly (if not then excuse my idiocy), you guys are basically discussing that the difference in efficacy of the various batches of Adrafinil you've received could be do to certain batches getting "destroyed" in the stomach because of their different nuances of synthesis? If so, wouldn't taking something like 2 x 20MG famotidine ~30 mins. before administration help with that? Or better yet, any of the widely available PPIs?
Also FWIW, because I was worried about potential GI-upset issues, I capped the Adrafinil I've ordered before into "DRCaps" . This was the only place I could find selling any type of enteric capsule to the general public. Not sure if it was worth the cost, but I didn't notice any GI issues when I administered my Adrafinil, so. Anyway, maybe a similar solution could remedy the problems you're noticing.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
We are discussing the possibility of different ionization states for the Adrafinil molecule, which would lead to differing pKa numbers for the powders. Those different pKa states could alter the ability for the Adrafinil to absorb in the GI tract, based on the pH of the stomach. It would explain why some people get results, while others don't. It would also explain why the powders test virtually the same purity.