How Products were Selected:
Products were selected to represent those commonly sold and/or available nationally in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers, and direct sales or multi-level marketing companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.
Testing Methods:
Products were tested for amount of huperzine A by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) or High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection.. Analyses included identification of potential contamination with lead in botanical products.
Analyses for lead were performed using an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS).
Disintegration of non-chewable, non-capsule, non-enteric coated and non-time release formulations was analyzed by ConsumerLab.com utilizing USP (United States Pharmacopeia) <2040> methodology.
Products failing to meet any Passing Score were re-tested in a second independent laboratory using similar methods and instrumentation.
ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.
Passing Score: *
To pass testing, a product had to:
- Contain at least 100% and not more than 150%, of the expected amount of (-) - huperzine A. If product claims to be made from natural source huperzine A (e.g. Huperzia serrata (Thunb. ex Murray) Trevis, toothed club moss) the expected amount of (-) - huperzine A shall be equivalent to the claimed amount of huperzine A. If Product does not claim to be from natural source, or claims to be made from synthetic huperzine A, 50% of the claimed amount of huperzine A shall be expected to be (-) - huperzine A.
- Not exceed California Prop 65 levels for lead contamination in a recommended daily serving of a dietary supplement, i.e., contain less than 0.5 mcg of lead per daily serving with an additional allowance of 1.0 mcg for supplements containing 1,000 mg/day or more of elemental calcium and 0.5 mcg for supplements containing specific other minerals.** For supplements not marketed for use by children, ConsumerLab.com provides an additional allowance of 0.5 mcg if containing 250 to 499 mg/day of elemental calcium, or 1.0 mcg if containing 500 to 999 mg/day of elemental calcium, and an allowance of 0.5 mcg if containing one whole herb (not extract) ingredient or 1.0 mcg for two or more whole herb ingredients. If a maximum recommended daily serving is not defined, a daily serving size will be determined and applied by CL.
- Meet recommended USP parameters for disintegration for nutritional supplements (excluding capsule, chewable and time-release products).
- Meet FDA labeling requirements.
** Based on State of California's Prop 65 lead limit. California requires supplements exceeding this limit to bear a warning label regarding lead.
