Comment · Tue, October 15, 2019 · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
Bacopa Monnieri - Standardised extracts (e.g Synapsa) and HPLC measurements
Original post in this thread
throw_my_username · 9 points
Hello,
I was wondering the following. Most studies on Bacopa use the Synapsa variant and state a dose of ~300mg with 50-55% bacosides.
Now, considering that that bacoside percentage is derived NOT through the accurate HPLC measurement but through UV-spectrophotometry, one can easily demonstrate that e.g Synapsa is, in fact, NOT 50-55% Bacosides but more like ~8% (for an example, see here).
Due to this, if one were to buy a product that claims 50% bacosides by HPLC, would it be reasonable to lower the bacopa recommended dosage by 5 times? So, instead of 300mg used in studies, the HPLC-measured variant would only be 60mg.
A second question I have is this: considering it's the same herb, how is it possible that some people have experienced problems with the non-Synapsa version of Bacopa? What could the Synapsa version have that the "generic" bacopa doesn't that could cause different reactions in the same person?
What they were answering
MindNutrition · 2 points
We have been out of stock for about 2 months now, the last 2 batches didn't even make it to the lab because they failed QC or we rejected them.
I'm annoyed that this is even an issue with the larger labs.
I don't know how often one would 'inspect' a reference standard, but that doesn't seem to be something they are keeping on top of. I cannot say we would be able to trust the local labs there in the future, at least not without having another EU/US lab confirm the results. Eurofins also tested some of our other extracts, so this is potentially not an isolated problem.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
I'm more than annoyed! It makes me question literally everything about the supplement industry. The deeper I dig, the more shit I find! I won't trust a lab in India or China anymore without matching results from our lab using our reference standard. Hell, I will only trust a few US labs these days, and that is because we have visited them, vetted their documentation, and confirmed the results in our lab. I also bought a $40,000 microgram scale so that we can properly calibrate and store references standards for use in tests. Most places buy up a 5-10mg standard and make a stock solution of the whole thing, because they can't accurately measure in the microgram range. Then they use that stock solution when they run a test. However, that is not the proper way to store reference standards. Some degrade once they are in solution. So rather than buying up new expensive standards every few months, or risking degradation in our stock solutions, I bit the bullet and bought the most expensive scale I have ever seen. I didn't know they even existed before. LOL.