ANN ARBOR, Mich.--NSF International (www.nsf.org), a non-profit organization based here, has released its Draft Standard 173 for dietary supplements. The proposed standard will serve as an evaluation tool for analyzing dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, botanicals and amino acids, as well as any concentrate, metabolite, constituent or extract of these ingredients.

There are organizations, companies and universities that periodically test products, but they are not accredited third-party certification programs, according to NSF, an organization that is certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a third-party certifier.

For companies that want their products analyzed, Draft Standard 173 will test to make sure label claims are in line with what is in the product, either qualitatively or quantitatively, and that products do not contain undeclared contaminants. Contaminants include such materials as arsenic, mercury, pesticides and aristolochic acid.

In the proposed standard, NSF stated that it would test products using methods such as TLC and HPLC. Even though certain laboratory methods have not been validated for certain ingredients, new methods will be added to the standard as they become available.

The proposed standard also includes a section on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) based on the GMPs submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995. In addition, NSF lists which marker compounds it will be testing for in botanicals such as ginkgo (i.e., kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin) and willow bark (i.e., salicin, L-picein).

According to NSF, this draft standard was developed with input from the dietary supplement industry, public health regulators and dietary supplement distributors. Technical guidance was provided by various health and industry organizations: the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the American Pharmaceutical Association, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA).

The standard will not address efficacy, but rather label claims and, to an extent, product safety. "Companies that use the NSF Mark are guaranteeing that their product contains what it should," said Kathleen Pompliano, manager of new business development at NSF. "This standard will benefit the industry, which asked NSF to do this."

NSF is allowed to certify products against this draft, which may be completed in mid-2002 after ANSI has completed reviewing it. Comments can be sent to NSF International, Standards Department, P.O. Box 130140, Ann Arbor, MI 48113-0140.