Devil in the details in latest herb attack from NY AG

NEW YORK — Attorney General Eric Schneiderman again targeted the dietary supplement market this week, demanding that 13 dietary supplement manufacturers cease and desist from the sale, distribution or marketing of adulterated or misbranded "devil's claw" supplements. The letters, sent Wednesday, were based on a study from the New York Botanical Garden that used a DNA barcoding technique to conclude that the devil’s claw supplements from these manufacturers contained a cheaper related species that is considered less desirable. Attorney General Schneiderman requested that the companies furnish proposals, where appropriate, for recalling any adulterated devil’s claw supplements, compensating consumers who purchased the mislabeled products, and reforming their approach to quality control.  

 

“When a scientific study tests numerous herbal supplements manufactured by more than a dozen companies and finds the wrong plant in just about every one, it raises more troubling questions about whether people who buy dietary supplements are getting what they pay for,” Schneiderman said.

 

Though consumers aren't paying much for their devil's claw supplements, relativey speaking. Nationwide, annual sales of devil's claw supplements across all channels totaled $500,000 in 2014, according to the American Botanical Council. However, for the mainstream U.S. total multi-outlet channels as tracked by IRI, sales of devil's claw supplements were little more than $11,000 for the latest 52 weeks ended Aug. 2. Sales of total supplements and vitamins in the mass outlet channels totaled $5.9 billion in that period. 

 

“Supply chain integrity is of the utmost importance to the dietary supplement industry," noted Steve Mister, president and CEO for the Council for Responsible Nutrition. "The companies involved should be permitted to defend their methods of ingredient testing and to justify their use of particular species of botanicals before being declared to be misbranded or adulterated by the New York Attorney General," he said. "As we have seen before, investigations by the New York Attorney General’s office are rarely as clear-cut as they might seem.”

 

Attorney General Schneiderman also announced that his office has reached an accord with a 14th manufacturer, Nature’s Way, to improve the manufacturing and marketing of its devil’s claw supplements. Nature’s Way committed to ensure that its devil claw’s supplements solely contain the proper plant species and are labeled accordingly. Nature’s Way will also refund New York consumers who purchased devil’s claw supplements and continue to extend DNA barcode testing across its herbal product lines with one or two ingredients.

 

Devil's claw is the commercial name in the United States for the plant Harpagophytum procumbens, which according to the NYAG is marketed by the dietary supplement industry as a treatment for arthritis and other forms of joint pain. However, many mainstream supplement marketers may shy away from making such diseases-state claims as they are barred by the Food and Drug Administration. 

 

A federal regulation requires manufacturers to identify plant species using the common name standardized in the trade publication, Herbs of Commerce. That publication defines the common name “devil’s claw” as procumbens. In botanical classification and nomenclature, devil's claw is usually known scientifically by its Latin name, Harpagophytum procumbens, where Harpagophytum is the genus of the plant and procumbens refers to the species of the plant. According to the American Botanical Council, the DNA barcoding tests commissioned by the NY AG showed that some herbal supplements actually contain Harpagophytum zeyheri, a slightly different form of devil's claw, i.e., a different, but very closely related species. In effect, they are like two siblings.

 

"Both species of devil's claw have a similar chemical profile," said Thomas Brendler, a medicinal plant expert and editor of the African Herbal Pharmacopeia, a compilation of technical information of various African medicinal plants. "While both species differ marginally in shape and chemical composition, both are considered equally effective," he said. According to various government-recognized medicine evaluation bodies and pharmacopeias, the two species of devil's claw are considered interchangeable. These organizations include the European Medicines Agency and the European Pharmacopoeia, Brendler said. 

 

The New York Botanical Garden tested 18 devil’s claw supplements labeled for U.S. sale. The study found that for the 16 supplements for which DNA could be identified, all contained zeyheri, either by itself (81%) or mixed with procumbens (19%).

 

Attorney General Schneiderman’s cease-and-desist letters target 13 manufacturers, which produced 15 of the test products. These companies included:

 

 

The Office of the Attorney General has not sent a letter to Shine Supplements because the company could not be located through conventional means and is not registered with the Secretary of State to do business in New York.

 

An additional supplement identified genetically in the New York Botanical Garden’s study was produced by Nature’s Way, which marketed its devil’s claw products as a combination of procumbens and zeyheri.