MediHerb
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Highest quality herbal liquid extracts, tablets and capsulesCo-founded in 1986 by Professor Kerry Bone, MediHerb is the first choice for health care professionals in herbal products in Australia, New Zealand and USA.
“I believe that by recommending MediHerb you are not only giving the best possible products to your patients, you are also investing in the future of natural medicine.” Kerry Bone, B.Sc (Hons), Dip Phyto MediHerb Co-Founder and Director of Research and Development Click here for the excipient glossary. Unique Extraction: 1:2 Cold Percolation ProcessThe MediHerb 1:2 Cold Percolation method is unlike other herbal extraction processes; no heat or concentration is used, both of which may cause damage to the delicate plant material. The greatest care is taken to prevent any contamination from outside sources throughout the extraction process:
In addition to the herb itself, we use only two other raw materials in manufacturing our herbal extracts, ethanol and purified water. Both are chosen very carefully to ensure the most efficacious product and meet pharmaceutical standard specifications. All process water used in extraction is purified by reverse osmosis. First, it is filtered through numerous filter beds to remove particulate matter and organic compounds, then passed through reverse osmosis cartridges to remove the ionic materials before finally passing through an ultra-fine filter. The water produced is very low in all contaminants – organic, ionic and particulate – and is tested to comply with the British Pharmacopoeia specification for purified water BP2011. Identity and PurityBefore any herb is purchased, a sample of the batch being offered for sale is analysed by the Quality Control Laboratory and compared to the quality criteria specified by MediHerb. At this point, we regularly reject herbs as only the herbs that meet or exceed the strict quality criteria are purchased. Depending upon the specific herb, the quality assurance process includes testing herbs for: Colour Aroma Texture Content of specified actives Thin Layer Chromatography fingerprinting Microbial levels Amount of extraneous matter Pesticides and herbicides Heavy metals Aflatoxins Radiation levels Over the years, MediHerb have found many issues relating to quality, for example: Substitution of Scutellaria lateriflora (Skullcap) with other Scutellaria spp. Replacement of Scutellaria lateriflora (Skullcap) with Teucrium spp. (Germander) Adulteration of Hydrastis canadensis (Golden Seal) Centella asiatica (Gotu Kola) substituted for Bacopa monnieri (Bacopa) Substitution of Stephania tetrandra by Aristolochia spp., which has the potential to cause kidney failure Samples of Andrographis paniculata (Andrographis) upon testing at MediHerb, revealed to have no andrographolide content (the active constituent) Samples of Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) upon testing at MediHerb, were found to contain a colouring agent, in order to imitate anthocyanins (the quality marker responsible for the blue colour in ripe Bilberries). Adulteration of Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) and Turnera diffusa (Damiana) extracts with rutin MediHerb's stringent testing regimes guard against: Substitution of species: one herb may be substituted for another less costly herb Adulteration of herbs: a high quality and expensive herb may have a cheaper herb or even a pharmaceutical mixed in with it Poor quality of herbs: herbs can vary enormously in quality and this means the effect you and your patients feel, can vary enormously This ensures that the herbs approved for use in MediHerb products are of the correct species, are the correct plant part, have the correct active constituent profile and are free from contamination. Therefore you as the clinician can rest assured that the MediHerb product contains exactly what it says on the label. |