Extract standardization is the process supplements companies use to make sure that all their products are of the same quality and purity. A standardized extract has one or more chemical compounds in a guaranteed amount and the amount is usually written as a percentage.
There are two main methods of standardization, and which one is used depends on whether the active compound is known or not. Standardization to a marker compound is used when a herb or plant is known to have beneficial effects, but the compound or compounds that create the effects have not yet been found out. When the active compounds are not known companies must choose a marker compound, an easily identifiable compound that occurs only the herb or plant of choice, in sufficient quantities, and standardize their extracts using the marker compound as their ‘target’.
