HSN & Alkemist Labs Next Generation Transparency

Alfredo Valdés 5 min. of reading Legislation and Quality Leave a comment

Index

1 What is Alkemist Labs?
2 What is Next Generation Transparency?
3 What kind of tests does Alkemist do?
4 HSN & Alkemist Labs Next Generation Transparency
5 Which HSN products have already been tested by Alkemist?

What is Alkemist Labs?

Alkemist Labs is a laboratory with a 25-year track record and an established leader in the botanical analysis of plants, specialised in phytochemical potency analysis, and that covers all herbs on the market.

Its philosophy is to “trust, but verify”.

And it’s key values? Using completely transparent methods, personalised technical support, unrivalled customer service, and undisputed expert analysis.

What is Next Generation Transparency?

Next Generation Transparency is a program aimed at providing clear analytical results for the botanical ingredients present in dietary supplements. This is key for consumers who want to know more about the compounds in their supplements and the science behind their use.

Alkemist Labs works to share more information with customers, starting with developing analysis reports that are easier for the consumer to understand, clearly explaining ingredient choices, and investigating plant identity and potency.

What kind of tests does Alkemist do?

Alkemist mainly performs 3 types of analysis:

Identity analysis

Many plants have very closely related botanical relatives.

Sometimes they work in a similar way, but at other times they don’t, and can become useless, or even dangerous.

Dietary supplement labelling must be specific and precise, indicating the species of the plant it contains and the part used.

Tampering of products with the wrong plants or plant parts is all too common in the dietary supplement market.

Identity analysis allows you to ensure which plant, and which part of it, a particular product contains, offering maximum guarantees of safety and effectiveness.

Microscopy, HPTLC and HPLC fingerprinting techniques are all used against verified samples from Alkemist Labs’ large and specialised herbarium.

Potency analysis

Plants contain bioactive compounds naturally present in their parts that, when ingested in sufficient quantity, generate effects in the body.

The chemical composition of a plant is important to ensure the presence and potency of its effects.

The clearest example of this is in caffeine, an alkaloid present in coffee beans that increases alertness; can you imagine buying coffee to get effects of caffeine and it turns out to be decaffeinated? Well, with plants, the same thing can happen.

Alkemist Labs performs HPLC/UPLC analysis, gas chromatography, UV-Vis and wet chemistry (volumetric, gravimetric, moisture, pH, drying loss, ash, etc.) all to be able to break down the complex chemical structure of the plant being analysed and, in turn, guarantee what compounds it contains and in what amount.

This is key, which is why at HSN we guarantee the chemical constituent content of the botanical extracts we sell, as this is an essential quality factor for understanding the effects of what we’re consuming.

Contaminant analysis

Alkemist Labs also analyses heavy metals, pesticides and residual solvents.

HSN & Alkemist Labs Next Generation Transparency

At HSN, we continue our unstoppable progress to the summit of transparency and quality, committing to and sharing the Next Generation Transparency™ vision of Elan Sudberg, CEO of Alkemist Labs.

We now complement the already many and varied quality control points present at different stages of our raw material validation, manufacturing and after-sales analysis processes with the analysis services of Alkemist Labs.

We’ve started shipping products for analysis using the most comprehensive set of advanced methods to confirm the identity of the plant species and the actives composition present in our end products.

Contaminant analysis is a testing process that we already carry out during the validation of raw materials, both in-house and externally with Eurofins, a European laboratory certified by national accreditation bodies that has performed many of the microbiological, nutritional composition and purity analyses of our products.

Which HSN products have already been tested by Alkemist?

For now, identity analysis certificates are available in the “EXTERNAL LAB ANALYSIS” tab of the product sheet:

White Kidney Bean Extract (12:1) 500mg by EssentialSeries.

Green Tea Extract (25:1) 500mg by EssentialSeries.

The analyses verifies the identity of the plant and the part used and is divided into 3 sections:

Material tested: With product information sent
Conclusion: Where they confirm the plant and the part it contains
Test details: Where they show the HPTLC carried out to obtain the conclusion. Its interpretation requires technical knowledge.

And several composition reports are about to arrive!

We’re only just getting started! We’ll soon expand the quantity and variety of analysis of the other plant-based products in our catalogue. HSN, We Are Nutrition!

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