The ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) announced a new article detailing results from analytical laboratories on ingredients and products containing or claiming to be elder berry. The report confirms that adulterated and mislabeled materials are currently available on the market as elder berry, and covers powder, bulk extracts, and finished dietary supplements marketed as containing either European elder or American elder, and is available in the March issue of the American Botanical Council’s HerbalEGram newsletter.
 
Dietary supplements containing elder berry are widely used medicinally for immune support, often to treat symptoms for colds and flus. Several clinical studies support its benefits in the treatment of symptoms of the common cold. The use of elder berry supplements has experienced a rapid increase, to the extent that in the first six months of 2020 elder berry supplements were ranked as the top-selling herbal dietary supplement ingredient in the U.S. both in the mass market and natural retail channels.
 
The increased consumer demand for elder berry products has created challenges in the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to shortages in the availability of elder berry ingredients, and higher raw material costs. Industry experts have raised concerns that the situation could lead to an increase in the sale of adulterated elder berry products, but published data on the authenticity of elder berry is lacking in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
 
To assess the quality and authenticity of materials, BAPP asked elder berry ingredient suppliers, product manufacturers, and independent analytical laboratories that test elder berry to provide data from chemical or genetic assays evaluating elder berry authenticity.
 
The results of this initiative have been summarized in a paper co-authored by 15 botanical science experts with Stefan Gafner, PhD, ABC chief science officer and BAPP technical director, as the lead author. Data was provided by Artemis International, Gaia Herbs, Nature’s Way, and Naturex, as well as independent analytical laboratories Alkemist Laboratories, DNA4 Technologies, Eurofins, and NSF International.
 
Of the 532 samples analyzed, 58 (10.9%) failed identity specifications. The results show that black rice extract, a relatively low-cost ingredient that contains some but not all of the anthocyanidin compounds found in elder berry, is a frequent adulterant.
 
In addition to data on adulteration, the paper gives a brief overview on elder berry taxonomy, medical use, chemistry, and the market situation in the United States. The publication was reviewed by 15 experts from academia, non-profit organizations, contract analytical laboratories, and the herbal dietary supplement industry in the United States, Canada, and France.
 
“I have been using elder berry syrup on several occasions over the past year and rely on the manufacturer to produce an authentic product that will provide the expected benefits,” Gafner said. “as a consumer, it is very disappointing to see that some of the elder berry ingredients and products offered are not what they claim to be. As a scientist, I am not surprised, since this adulteration follows a well-established scheme of using anthocyanin-rich extracts from low-cost sources as undeclared substitutes, which has also been observed, for example, with the adulteration of bilberry, blueberry, and cranberry extracts.”
 
“This is the first scientific publication that confirms what many scientific and botanical industry experts have suspected for a long time – that, unfortunately, like many other popular botanical ingredients used in some dietary supplements, elder berry is subject to adulteration and fraud by sellers who do not ensure the proper botanical identity and authenticity of their ingredients,” ABC founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal said.
 
“Accordingly, companies seeking authentic elder berry ingredients for their products must use considerable caution and appropriate analytical methodology to ensure the proper identity of their ‘elder berry’ ingredient supplies. There are many responsible and reputable companies that perform the appropriate analytical due diligence on their elder berry ingredient supplies to confirm the identity of their ingredient and ensure the reliability of their elder berry products. However, the results of our paper strongly suggest that not all companies selling ‘elder berry’ products perform adequate quality control measures.”