The May 30th issue of HerbClip, a publication of the American
Botanical Council, describes the horrible situation revolving around
extracts of Grapefruit seed. As it turns out, there are few products
if any that actually contain what the label says they are supposed to
contain. The marketing of most Grapefruit seed extracts is a sham.

Grapefruit seed extract has been promoted over the years as a product
with a very strong antimicrobial effect -- one that can heal a variety
of diseases. It has also been considered an up-and-coming natural
preservative for food and dietary supplements.

Unfortunately, it appears that many studies show that Grapefruit seed
extracts are offten adulterated with other preservatives, and they do
not have much of the promised Grapefruit in them at all. One study
showed that 7 out of 9 of the products tested contained traditional
antimicrobial preservatives. (In my opinion, it's completely
inappropriate to put something that isn't natural into a product sold
to the "natural" marketplace.)

There have been some adverse events reported that deal with these
adulterated Grapefruit seed extracts. For example, an interaction with
the drug warfarin resulted in a man and woman in serious medical
difficulties within three days of ingesting the adulterated extracts.
Of the three brands of Grapefruit seed extract these two were taking,
two showed no traces of Grapefruit seeds at all (one of the labels
said 33% and another said it contained 100% Grapefruit seed extract).
Based on the drug interaction with warfarin, we're not even certain
that Grapefruit seeds had anything to do with the medical issues
because these products contained little to none.

Luckily for us all, there are few products in the dietary supplement
industry which have this same record of shame. Always buy from a
reputable company, one that is known to be a supplier of quality-
controlled extracts.

Dave

Full text article above extracted from http://shamvswham.blogspot.com/