LAUSR

Herbal supplements, usually used as dry extracts, are multisubstance mixtures. For their characterization, it is essential to specify the drug-extract ratio and indicate the extraction solvent used. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has evaluated a ginkgo-based herbal product for toxicity and carcinogenicity in short-term and long-term studies [1]. The transferability of the results to other ginkgo products plays a key role in this project. With their study, Collins and colleagues want to prove the question of the transferability of the NTP results based on the comparison of the phytochemical composition of Ginkgo biloba extracts (GbE) using a combination of non-targeted and targeted analytical approaches [2]. Notwithstanding the great importance of this project, we consider the conclusions drawn from the results of the pilot study to be largely speculative and scientifically insufficiently substantiated. We base our criticism on four points in particular: