Haritaki Purity Tests, Lead toxicity

How to find out if your haritaki is pure?

1. I recommend organic haritaki as the most pure form of haritaki. Haritaki is the fruit of a tree and if the tree is not certified organic then it could have been in an area of India where industrial pollution was present. If you have been to India you will have seen areas where trees are for sure absorbing pollutants.
2. Buy a haritaki that is certified organic. The label may say organic, but please make sure that the organic is certified. Typically certification comes in two forms:
   1. The USDA Organic Certification is a symbol that we on the page below
   2. The India organic certification is also listed below
3. Lead. Check to see if there is any Lead in your haritaki. Some Ayurvedic herbs have increased amounts of lead in the herbs. However haritaki does not naturally absorb lead into the fruit, so we would not expect it to be present at all. Check with the supplier to ensure that the haritaki is tested for lead content.
4. Fungus. Check with the supplier that the haritaki has been tested for fungus. Haritaki, as a fruit comes off the tree and can sit on the ground in wet conditions. This can cause fungal growth. also improper storage of the fruit can cause fungal growth.
5. Other heavy metals. These include arsenic. Again check with the supplier to ensure it is tested for heavy metals.
6. Added Dirt. I regularly get questions about if there is dirt added to the haritaki. I have no idea on what basis these questions arise. I have never seen dirt in any haritaki products that I have come across. There are occasional darker particles in the haritaki, however these are naturally occuring in the fruit.
7. Haritaki seeds. In Ayurveda there is information for using the seed and not using the seed in making the powder. While this does not affect purity, the experts in the field of Ayurveda that I trust recommend using haritaki pulp, made into powder, rather than including the seed in the powdering process.

 Haritaki Test Results: Haritaki COA test evaluation for purity

Testing of Triphala that revealed higher than normal toxicity

https://www.tsijournals.com/articles/heavy-metal-content-in-an-ayurvedic-formulation-triphala-prepared-by-different-manufacturers.pdf

In the above article the authors tested 3 different sources of the Ayurvedic compound Triphala, and found that in some samples there was a high level of lead in one sample.

Here is the description:

“Amongst the fivemetals analysed,Zn was found to be in maximum concentration but it was within the safe
limits and Hg in the least concentration in Triphala of different manufactures. There was significant variation in the total metal concentration between Triphala in-houseTriphala and Triphala prepared by different manufacturers. The total heavy metal content was found to be maximum in M3 as compared to Triphala prepared by other manufacturers. In the five samples analyzed lead was
found to be in excess in M1 sample.”

Testing for herb authenticity, haritaki purity tests

This article discusses how to test for authenticity in common Aurvedic herbs, including herbal mixtures that include haritaki:

http://www.phytojournal.com/vol4Issue3/Issue_Sep_2015/4-2-45.1.pdf

Introduction
Success of every health care system depends on the authenticity, purity and safety of suitable drugs. In nutshell we can say that every healthcare system will get paralyzed without having safe/ potent drugs. For a quality assured herbal product standardization is always required. Standardization should be based on microscopical, physical, chemical and phyto-chemical parameters. The detailed pharmacognostical and phytochemical evaluation of a herb or formulation provides a means of standardization which is useful for future reference. In the present paper an attempt has been done to standardize one of the reputed formulation of Bhavaprakasha hridroga adhikara based on microscopical, physical, physico-chemical and phytochemical characteristics. The yoga consists of Harithaki (Terminalia chebula), Vacha (Acorus calamus), Rasna (Alpinia galanga), Pippali (Piper longum), Nagaram/Shunthi (Zingiber officinale), Shati (Hedychium spicatum) and Pushkaramool (Inula racemosa) [1]

Herb Health

In this article the changes in climate and growing conditions are featured as an effect on the wonderfulness of the ayurvedic herbs to function effectively, including haritaki purity tests.

https://www.firstpost.com/business/questioning-the-ayurveda-panacea-why-consumers-need-to-be-cautious-before-trying-out-herbal-products-3669081.html

The quality of plants and herbs in natural environment 5,000 years ago, is not the same today due to altered method of collection, commercial growing, residue of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in soil and water (taken up by the plants in the wild too), climatic changes and manufacturing technology. Hence unwarranted use of substandard or unregulated use of standard medicines increase the possibility of side effects”, said Bhalerao. Not all medicines sold in the market claiming to be ayurvedic drugs are purely from that discipline, said sector specialists.

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