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What does "Standardized" mean on an herbal product?

How does a company do that? Typically, standardization involves extracting key components from the whole herb, measuring them, in some cases concentrating them, and then packaging them, sometimes in a base of the whole ground herb. The trick to effective standardization is knowing which components to measure and concentrate; for that, many companies turn to research from Europe, especially Germany, where scientists have long sought to understand and isolate the effective constituents of medicinal herbs. Standardized products do not necessarily pack a more powerful punch than nonstandardized ones; it's possible to buy a standardized herb with a level of active ingredients that is actually lower than a good quality whole herb. What the term gives you is an assurance that the manufacturer has measured some part of the herb and guarantees that measurement in its product, according to Paul Zullo, director of marketing and public relations at Solgar Vitamin and Herb Company Inc., in Leonia, N.J.

Nevertheless, if you want to be reasonably sure an herb is going to work--and particularly if you're not certain which whole-herb products are high quality--then it's a good idea to look for a standardized preparation. "Standardization is the best guarantee that a product contains what it's supposed to contain in amounts sufficient to produce a desired effect," says Andrew Weil, M.D., founder of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson and author of three best-sellers.

To identify what you're buying and in what amounts, look for the names of the actual compounds that have been standardized. Understanding a label requires some self-education, however. For instance, the label on Solgar's Standardized Full Potency Echinacea Herb Extract Vegicaps says that each capsule contains " 125 milligrams (mg.) of 0.4 percent echinacosides and 15 percent polysaccharides," plus 300 ma. of raw echinacea root powder. Clearly, this information is highly specific and quantitative; the average consumer needs at least some background information on what echinacosides are and what quantities are effective for what purposes before making comparisons between products. For that kind of educational material, turn to the Boulder, Colo.-based Herb Research Foundation, a nonprofit educational and research organization that offers more than 185 information packets on specific herbs and other herb-related subjects. The Foundation also offers a basic educational package on how to use herbs. Call (303) 449-2265 or visit the foundation's web site: http://www.herbs.org.

Lee Reilly lives in Chicago and writes about health and the environment. Vegetarian Times, '97.