The National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) has issued the inceptive company of Standard Reference Materials ( SRMs ) predominance a planned series of reference materials for botanical dietary supplements.
The dietary supplement industry has exploded predominance the foregone decade to about 29, 000 wares, eclipse about 1, 000 untrained commodities introduced each lifetime, according to the Chop chop and Drug Administration ( FDA ). Pull 2001 NIST began working ensconce the FDA and the Federal Institutes of Health ' s Office of Dietary Supplements ( NIH / ODS ) on a series of SRMs of popular botanical dietary supplements. Manufacturers trust adoption these materials for quality regimentation, and researchers rap occasion them to effect that their laboratory analyses of supplements are accurate. Products matching as botanical supplements, that hold been derived from extracts of plant materials are intricate to analyze accurately in that of their knotty example matrices.
The ultramodern NIST reference materials were designed primarily for excellence qualification of supplements containing ephedra, a plant once widely used direction herbal weight - loss wares. Ephedra merchandise were pulled from the bazaar by the FDA pressure 2004 ensuing being linked to cardiovascular problems, but the unused assessment materials reach dear both to effect that untrodden goods are not adulterated suppress ephedra and through they besides responsibility show used to convalesce several other solution measurements prominence other botanical supplements, including concentrations of potentially toxic bulky metals.
The topical reference materials hold office several other forms of ephedra and consist of powdered plant material ( SRM 3240 ), a ground solid oral dosage design ( SRM 3243 ), and a protein powder ( SRM 3244 ). The materials are certified for their concentrations of the ephedrine alkaloids and potentially toxic elements ( including arsenic, cadmium, front and mercury ). SRM 3243 also provides certified values for synephrine ( a compound credit some of the " ephedra - for nothing " weight - loss lines ) and caffeine. SRM 3244 adds values for caffeine, theobromin, theophylline, and nutrients including fat, protein, carbohydrate, express fatty acids and amino acids, vitamins and nutritive elements.
