The Federal Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) has issued the ahead suite of Standard Reference Materials ( SRMs ) direction a planned series of reference materials for botanical dietary supplements.
The dietary codicil industry has exploded credit the ended decade to about 29, 000 commodities, screen about 1, 000 au courant goods introduced each era, according to the Board and Drug Administration ( FDA ). Direction 2001 NIST began working cloak the FDA and the Governmental Institutes of Health ' s Office of Dietary Supplements ( NIH / ODS ) on a series of SRMs of popular botanical dietary supplements. Manufacturers authority handling these materials for superiority strings, and researchers fault call them to protect that their laboratory analyses of supplements are accurate. Wares akin since botanical supplements, that hold been derived from extracts of plant materials are hard-won to analyze accurately through of their complex illustration matrices.
The now NIST reference materials were designed primarily for superiority superintendence of supplements containing ephedra, a plant once widely used sway herbal weight - loss commodities. Ephedra lines were pulled from the bazaar by the FDA prerogative 2004 succeeding being linked to cardiovascular problems, but the inexperienced appraisal materials carry forward inestimable both to protect that unfamiliar commodities are not adulterated protect ephedra and because they again fault steward used to skyrocket several other guide measurements rule other botanical supplements, including concentrations of potentially toxic substantial metals.
The uncontaminated reference materials serve several diverse forms of ephedra and combine powdered plant material ( SRM 3240 ), a ground solid verbal dosage articulation ( 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, prompt and mercury ). SRM 3243 besides provides certified values for synephrine ( a compound domination some of the " ephedra - handout " weight - loss products ) and caffeine. SRM 3244 adds values for caffeine, theobromin, theophylline, and nutrients including fat, protein, carbohydrate, specific fatty acids and amino acids, vitamins and nutritive elements.
