Reliable Herbal Companies?

I use two companies- New Sun Health and Natures Sunshine Products. The post who said the potency varies by location grown is right but every batch should be tested for potency, purity, and this is very important as many herbs are imported from countries like China. Also less that unscrupulous brokers have delivered herbs to one of these companies that had already been extracted. The product looked the same as fresh but it had already been processed. Rather like selling your used coffee grounds.

While many herbs/supplements will be expensive very few quality products can be cheap. Example being glucosamine, real active glucosamine is expensive and there is no way you can buy a large jar for $5. For the most part you get what you pay for.

They all CLAIM to be the highest quality. Every last one. Some have gone so far as to buy a controlling interest in a testing lab so they can "test" their products and then post the glowing results.

However, herbs are highly variable, with differences in the active components depending on the region grown, the rainfall that season, the specifc strain of the plant, the handling conditions once picked, etc, etc, etc.

I don't know of any that are consistently reliable. Good luck.

They're all a complete gamble, it's not like any of them submit their products for analysis. Going with the most expensive looking website is pretty pointless too; Big Herba are getting fat from the income of their ineffective produce.

It's best to get professional line products that are pharmaceutical grade quality and have been tested and researched (contrary to what some people might say). Companies like Metagenics (founded by MD's, ND's and PhD's that research and formulate products), Genestra, Cytomatrix and Thorne are all good companies to look into.

Try looking for the products on Yahoo or Amazon shopping where users can rate products. I am not sure what company rates supplement producers. Try looking on this site which is an industry new site for

supplement makers:

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/

We use Nature's Sunshine products. The link below is to their product quality assurance page and it has a link where you can tour the manufacturing plant.

They also offer training. It should be under the "education" tab.