The lack of regulations in regards to herbal products helps Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and GNC to take full advantage and sell the public supplements that do not contain the herbs on the label.

The New York State attorney general’s office conducted an investigation into store-brand supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart. The investigation found that these giant retail stores sell dietary supplements that do not contain the herbs specified on their labels. Moreover, many of these supplements included potential allergens which were not identified in the ingredients list.

Normally, all these stores deserved their cease-and-desist letters which requested them to stop selling these products. These letters, first reported today by the New York Times maintained that“Contamination, substitution and falsely labeling herbal products constitute deceptive business practices and, more importantly, present considerable health risks for consumers.”

We will now explain the findings of the investigations of these products in more details below:

Products by Walmart, Spring Valley brand:

Echinacea

No echinacea or plant material was found in the supplement

Saw Palmetto

Garlic and rice were found in the product

Some samples contained small amounts of saw palmetto

Ginseng

No ginseng detected

Instead, rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrus were found in the supplement

Gingko Biloba

No gingko Biloba found in the dietary supplement

Instead, the product included rice, dracaena, mustard, wheat and radish

St. John’s Wort

No St. John’s Wort found

Detected garlic, rice and cassava

Garlic

One sample showed small amounts of garlic

The product included rice, pine, palm, dracaena and wheat

Products By Walgreens, Finest Nutrition brand

Echinacea

No echinacea detected

They found garlic, rice and daisy

Saw Palmetto

Contained saw palmetto

Ginseng

No ginseng found

Detected garlic and rice

Gingko Biloba

No gingko Biloba detected

Rice was found in the product

St. John’s Wort

No St. John’s Wort found

Detected garlic, rice and dracaena

Garlic

No garlic found

Detected palm, dracaena, wheat and rice

Products by GNC, Herbal Plus brand:

Echinacea

No echinacea found

rice found in some samples

Saw Palmetto

One sample contained the clear presence of palmetto

Other samples contained a variety of ingredients, including rice, asparagus, and primrose

Ginseng

No ginseng found

detected rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrus

Gingko Biloba:

No gingko Biloba found

Did detect allium (garlic), rice, spruce and asparagus

St. John’s Wort

No St. John’s Wort found

detected allium (garlic), rice and dracaena (a tropical houseplant)

Garlic

Contained garlic

Products By Target, Up & Up brand

Echinacea

Most, but not all tests detected Echinacea

One test identified rice in the content

Saw Palmetto

Most tests detected saw palmetto

Some tests found no plant DNA

Valerian Root

No valerian root found

Detected asparagus, pea family, rice, wild carrot, allium, bean, and saw palmetto

Gingko Biloba

No gingko Biloba detected

Found garlic, rice and mung/French bean

St. John’s Wort

No St. John’s Wort found

Found garlic, rice and dracaena (houseplant)

Garlic