Comment · Sat, May 25, 2024 · ND Owner
ConsumerLab's Ashwagandha report: KSM and Shoden
Original post in this thread
totallyjaded · 47 points
Since CL content is paid, I won't copypasta the full text (here, if you're a member) but I thought these key points were disappointing:
It is interesting to note that the producer of the branded ashwagandha extract KSM-66, Ixoreal, claims that this extract is at least 5% withanolides. However, every product listing KSM-66 was found by ConsumerLab to contain a much lower concentration..
It goes on to say that the producer claims that they use a non-USP testing method, and the suggestion is that the claim itself may be obfuscation.
The other really surprising thing was Shoden:
Nootropics Depot Shoden provided a substantial amount of withanolides (23.5 mg per capsule), but this was only 56% of its claimed 42 mg, so it could not be approved. Shoden is another branded form of ashwagandha... the label claimed that the 120mg of extract per capsule was 35% withanolides, which we did not find to be true.
So, I'm curious about ND's testing on this one. ND routinely details how they're doing way more than heavy metals testing - but it seems like CL is saying these two products routinely test below their claims…
What they were answering
Mojowhale · 3 points
You are the goat 🐐
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
Most people don't. They buy cheap chaga and have no idea they are not getting the beneficial actives. It's a very delicate cycle chaga participates in. You can grow chaga yourself, but it won't have any of the benefits of wildcrafted chaga harvested in winter. As the popularity of mushrooms has shot up, getting enough wildcrafted chaga done right has been a challenge, so brands have switched to cheaper sources. This then makes it not work, and people think the supplement is BS. However, it's just the specific brand they chose. It's literally just like snake oil.
Did you know that snake oil started out as real and beneficial? Most people parrot around the term like they know, but the history is much more complex.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-oil-salesmen-knew-something/
So Chinese immigrants brought over snake oil from the east, and used it to help cure inflammation. The specific snakes they used in China had high amounts of omega-3s in them, so concentrating the oil was actually giving people benefits. Then American businessmen saw these Chinese immigrants selling it, and decided they wanted to make money as well. So they started getting oil from snakes in the US and selling it. Well snakes in the US don't make omega-3s in their skin like the species in China do, so this other snake oil didn't do anything. This made everyone distrust it, and started the idea that all snake oil was a fraud. Now everyone uses it as a pejorative today. However, snake oil was real and worked. You just needed to use the correct species of snake. It's a very poignant allegory to the supplement industry today. We all here know there are many supplements that have amazing effects, but they have to be real and made right. You get shitbag businessmen involved again thinking they can make money, so they start selling fake or sub-par supplements. Then everyone starts to think supplements in general are a fraud. However, just like snake oil, they only work if you do them right.