Botanical Quality Control
One of the topics I am most passionate about within the wellness and botanical supplements industry is the quality control of plants. Unfortunately, the industry is ravaged with poor quality products, with contamination and adulteration being rife. In fact, it is so poor that many products do not have the plants they claim to in. It seems silly of me to turn a blind eye to such a vast problem in an industry I care so much about. After all I believe plants are imperative for wellbeing, and wellbeing ultimately effects peoples experiences of life.
So, I have collaborated with my colleague Zachary Bellman who is completing his PhD on the quality control of plants used for health. We have created a resource to educate both the public and individuals in industry on the different problems to do with the quality of botanicals in the wellness industry. The resource is called “How healthy are botanical supplements? A brief exploration of sustainability, supply chains and quality issues in the herbal medicine and food supplements industry” and can be found here.
It is my belief that changes will not shift in the industry until people are educated on the topic. Therefore, I was very happy to be asked to speak about this topic and present my research at a conference on the antibiotics crisis.
Representatives from the NHS and NICE were present, and the chief medical officer of the UK requested a briefing of the talk. The conference was hosted by Pukka Herbs and the College of Medicine and Integrated Health.
I am also a team member of the Medicinal Plant Naming Services at Kew Gardens. This is a fantastic database as a major problem which effects the quality and regulation of medicinal plants is nomenclature. One plant can have many names (synonyms), and one name can be for many plants (homonyms). This can make sourcing the correct species of plants very difficult and plants used in industry are often mixed up, unbeknownst to suppliers. This database is a catalogue for the plethora of names for a medicinal plant and helps one identify the correct species.