A new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) effort to develop standard reference materials (SRMs) for a number of popular botanical dietary supplements will provide tools that manufacturers can use to improve quality control during production, that researchers can use to ensure that their laboratory analyses of test substances are accurate, and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can use in monitoring marketed products and, when appropriate, in enforcement actions. Ultimately, consumers benefit because these efforts will ensure that marketed products contain what they are supposed to contain.
NIST was asked to develop the standards by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements and the FDA, which are providing partial funding for the project.
NIST will certify the concentrations of designated constituents in botanical ingredients and finished product preparations. The standards development program will begin with botanical sources of ephedrine alkaloids and kava, two widely marketed ingredients in dietary supplement products. Additional SRMs for nutriceuticals (nutritional supplements designed for specific clinical purposes) to be provided by NIST will be determined based on priorities provided by the NIH and FDA.
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Information about ephedra, kava and other dietary supplements can be found at http://ods.od.nih.gov/ and http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/.
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