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Amla - its about time it got its own thread ;)


Gordo

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Interesting. I've tried Terrasoul's Amla, but I didn't see they sell Triphala as well. (The link you shared was to their Amla, here is the one to the Triphala: https://www.amazon.com/Terrasoul-Superfoods-Organic-Triphala-Powder/dp/B01M8J94RI/ref=sr_1_21_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1514696237&sr=1-21&keywords=Terrasoul%2BSuperfoods&th=1)

 

In the FAQ on Amazon they say that 

 

all of our products are extensively lab test and 3rd party tested heavy metals. Results are available upon request as well. 

 

 

I'm really glad that they do that. I just sent them a message requesting the 3rd party lab tests. I'll post them here if they send them. Would love to try some Triphala.

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One of the purchasers on the webpage you linked to, Colleen Ray ,says on that webpage "Four out of five Triphala powders imported to the U.S. has been found to be contaminated with heavy metals…Terrasoul was happy to provide me with lot-specific reports on heavy metal test results, and their customer service has been great."

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm sorry to ask a technical question, but I am trying to add a PDF to this post and I can't figure out how to do it.

 

I emailed Terrasoul's costumer service and asked them to send me the lab test results for their triphala powder. They just sent it to me and I want to upload it to share with everyone.

 

I'm pretty disappointed by what they sent. There is no information about which lab conducted the test or what date the testing was done. There is literally zero information included that substantiates their claims. What it looks like to me is that somebody opened a word doc, created a simple chart, and entered in some numbers and then exported it as a PDF. Anyone could create a file like this. Whether or not an actual testing happened is impossible to tell, but if this is what they are passing off as lab results, I would say we should be very skeptical of the claims they are making.

 

If someone can help me figure out how to add the PDF, or even a screenshot of the PDF, I'd love to add it here.

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Okay, I still haven't been able to figure out how to post a PDF or an image on this forum. If anyone wants to show me how I can post it in this thread.

 

Otherwise you can see the lab results they sent me at this link.

Note that there is no date for when this test took place. There is nothing that indicates which lab did the testing. There is nothing indicating which lot was tested or how frequently it gets tested (do they test every lot they produce, or just once a year, or just once ever, or is this all fake?) Note that the "certificate of analysis" is just the words "certificate of analysis" printed on the PDF. Literally anyone who knows how to use a word processor could create this PDF and make it say anything they want it to say.

 

I would be very curious to hear what other people make of it. To me, it is impossible to tell if this is a real lab result or just a PDF that somebody created where they typed in the numbers. Given how easy it would be to do the later, I'm pretty skeptical at the moment.

 

It took a few more emails before they would tell me the name of the lab that conducted the test. Finally they told me it was a lab called Food Safety Net Services. I called them up, but as I expected they were not allowed to tell me anything at all about this. They could not even confirm or deny that Terrasoul had ordered tests from their lab. The only way they would be allowed to talk to me would be if Terrasoul gives them permission to talk to me. So I emailed Terrasoul and asked them to grant me permission to talk to FSNS. We'll see if they do this.

 

I suppose the other option would be to buy some triphala from Terrasoul and pay a lab to test it ourselves, but I'm guessing that would be pretty expensive. Or perhaps we could all convince ConsumerLab.com to test triphala from a few different manufacturers and publish the results for the public. That would be ideal.

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I can't really afford a membership to ConsumerLab.com. But I am curious as to how much it would cost for the CR Society to get a group membership:

 

 

 

Group/Institutional Subscriptions:

Whether a large university or a group of just five people, ConsumerLab.com offers group subscriptions that are easy to access, cost effective, and invoiced to a single payor. Group and institutional subscriptions to ConsumerLab.com are available for universities, colleges, academic departments, hospitals, public and private libraries, healthcare practices, government agencies, and companies (retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and others). For groups under 20, subscriptions can be set up using individual user sign-in. For larger groups/institutions, subscription is usually provided through a closed intranet and based on the approximate number of people or FTE's having access. For libraries, subscription is also based on the number of locations and terminals. 


For academic courses that require ConsumerLab.com access, schools can set up a semester-based access for enrolled students. 


Please email us at 
 for pricing. Include information about your group and contact information.

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Thomas, it appears that they dont't want to include the lab analysis certificate, although there is probably one, otherwise it's obviously a scam. There might be many reasons why it's notcustomary to include one. Last year De Carlo, the EVOO produced, didn't want to send me nor to tell me the total polyphenol contents of their Torre di Mossa, although they forwarded me to the results of a contest. Strange... 

 

pictures: I usually use the Windows snipping tool to create a Jpg file of the part of the picture I'm interested with, then save it to a folder within the 'picture' group.

Then:

 

  • More reply options
  • Attach files → choose files
  • Navigate to the file you saved and click it
  • Locate the cursor where you want the file added in teh post
  • Add to post, bottom RHS 

Also, if I have already a saved picture I may prefer to attach it whole without using the snipping tool.

 

post-7347-0-68295700-1516561026_thumb.jpg

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Does anyone know any good journalists that cover nutrition/health/consumer issues? I want to reserve judgement for right now but I think this is worth a real and full investigation. If Terrasoul is claiming that they test their products but they aren't really and just sending out faked results then I think this is newsworthy and worth a full and public report.

 

Thanks mccoy for the instructions on posting images. Things must look very different to other people than they do to me. I don't see anything that says "more reply options" or anyway to save an image to a picture group.

 

If I could upload an image I'd like to upload a screenshot of the metadata from the PDF.

 

Terrasoul's customer service emailed me with these lab results attached as a PDF on Friday, Jan. 19 at 1:32 p.m. According to the metadata on the PDF the file itself was created using Microsoft Excel 2016 on Friday, Jan. 19 at 12:06 p.m. The metadata includes the name of the person who created the file at Terrasoul who appears to be one of the business partners at Terrasoul.

 

Again nothing 100% conclusive about any of this. I'm still holding out hope that this is all done in good faith and that they really are testing their products. But I think there is enough that looks fishy here to warrant a real investigation by a journalist of some kind.

 

I'm no expert on any of this and I know that the supplement marketplace is woefully under regulated, but if there is a company whose brand emphasises transparency and lab testing but might be faking the test results, is there any entity that we could report them to for further investigation or verification?

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After a few more emails with Terrasoul, they send me a full detailed lab report of the kind I was initially expecting.

 

You can view that report here.

 

They also authorized the lab to speak to me and answer any questions I have about the lab results.

 

I've only just started looking at them, but I would love for everyone else who is interested to take a look too. Do you see anything you have questions about? I'd be happy to do my best to get them answered.

 

I'm not a scientist so any help thinking critically about these results is much appreciated.

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The lab results form is a standard analytical alb results sheet which is more or less applied in all fields.

 

I've been watching the heavy metal test: inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), which seems to be well documented in literature.

 

Cadmium and mercury are below the detection threshold for the ICP-MS method

 

Lead has a concentration value just about identical to the FDA threshold in candies and fruit (100 ppb) 

 

Arsenic concentration is lesser than the FDA threshold in rice for infants of 100 ppb

 

Given the very small amounts of amla typically ingested there seems to be no concern about heavy metals.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've gotten all of the past lab tests Terrasoul has done on it's Triphala.

 

You can see them all here.

 

On Terrasoul's website they say "As a quality focused company, we test samples from all of our triphala lots at an accredited laboratory using plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)."

 

For those of you who have more of a background in science, I have a few questions. I've seen some readouts from mass spectrometry before, and they have been colorful charts. These lab reports don't have anything like that but I'm assuming they are just the results from this process. Do any of you see anything different?

 

These lab reports only seem to list the amount of lead, arsenic, mold, etc. in the substance. But a mass spectrometry should also be able to determine what is in the substance as well right? I don't see anything like that included in the lab report. For example, a mass spectrometer should be able to tell us that this really is triphala and not just powdered cardboard (which is pretty much what Alma tastes like as Gordo so wonderfully put it) being sold as triphala.

 

I like being able to do our due diligence on products like triphala which have a history of contamination, but at a certain point I feel like we just have to trust that people are being decent and upright. I'm really glad that Terrasoul have shared these lab reports with us (although it took a little doing to get them), and unless anyone has any red flags to raise, I plan on ordering some Triphala from them soon and giving it a try. Out of appreciation I think I'll order some other items that I need from them as well.

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