Meeting the standards - know exactly what you're getting when buying health supplements

When you buy nutritional supplements, how do you know what you're getting? The official standard used in Australia for the identity, purity and potency of vitamins, minerals and herbs is a publication called the British Pharmacopoeia (commonly referred to as the BP). This is followed by the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia (BHP), the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the European Pharmacopoeia (EP).

The standards for materials listed in these pharmacopoeias are published after review by an independent body of experts. (There is a move towards harmonization in this area, and the BP will eventually coincide with the EP.)

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Act requires that all items covered by the BP comply with BP standards. Items not covered by the BP must comply with the standards specified in one of the other pharmacopoeias (as determined by the Therapeutic Goods Administration), or with special Therapeutic Goods Orders, which are standards that the TGA itself issues for such items. Because all products manufactured or supplied in Australia must comply with these standards, you won't find any reference to them on labels. The situation is quite different in the US, where compliance with the USP is voluntary. As a result, US manufacturers who either do comply with USP standards, or claim to do so, sometimes indicate this on the label.