Comment · Mon, July 6, 2020 · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
Testing reveals, many CoQ10 / SAMe supplements contain almost no active ingredients, despite label claims.
Original post in this thread
ProperBeat · 284 points
Supplement manufacturer NOW reports that of the 10 CoQ10 and SAMe products it subjected to analytical testing, only a few came close to meeting the label claims. Most products contained nothing useful or very little. The company purchased 10 CoQ10 products and 10 SAMe products and tested them to assess how much of the respective active ingredients they contained.
What they were answering
Speed_Reader · 3 points
I agree with what you are saying, however, if you wanted to meet pharmaceutical grade levels of accuracy, it should be within ~10% almost all of the time, with 15% worst case. From what I can tell:
https://uwaterloo.ca/chem13-news-magazine/december-2016-january-2017/feature/regulation-active-ingredient-content-tablets
So, what if any requirement is there for supplements? Couldn't find from a quick search.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
Actually, the FDA rules are "At or above label claim, within reason." The only time they give you some wiggle room is with natural plants that vary. So if you are putting in synthetic vitamin C in your product, it has to be 100% of label claim or higher. It also can't be too high. They let the brands decide what is within reason for overage. If you are using an orange peel powder that usually has X% vitamin C, you have to be within 80% of label claim. So if it is vitamin C coming from a plant, you can have 80% of label claim and be okay, but no lower. However, you can't with synthetic vitamin C. It has to be 100% of label claim.
The FDA also is very strict on their sampling and testing upon inspection. USP guidelines allow you to make a representative batch by sampling a bunch of units and combining them. Not the FDA, though! They will randomly pick individual units of product, and each unit has to test within their guidelines. You guys don't see a lot of this, as those enforcement letters are private. You guys can only see the public enforcement letters, which are done with serious and flagrant violations. There are many many more violations handled privately in the background with FDA inspectors.