Missing ingredients in herb tests

Tests on St John's Wort tablets showed huge variations in how much active ingredient different brands contain.

Some people buying the popular herbal medicine may be getting virtually none, reveals the study by Taiwanese experts.

St John's Wort, or Hypericum, can have mild antidepressant effects, although doctors warn it can interfere with the effects of other medicines.

None of the tablets tested had as much of the active ingredient as claimed, said the researchers.
Two chemicals are thought to be responsible for the psychoactive effects of St John's Wort.

These are hypericin - the chemical ingredient normally named on the label - and a related chemical called pseudohypericin.

None of the five products tested by researchers from the National Chung-Hsing University claimed to contain any pseudohypericin.

Source BBC News