Buyer Beware: Valerian Root Supplements Vary Widely In Strength, May Be Tainted With Lead

Sales of the popular herbal sleep and anti-anxiety supplement known as valerian root rose nearly 17 percent in 2012, to $90 million. But ConsumerLab.com reports that few of the valerian root products on the market deliver a dose of the active ingredient as powerful as those used in clinical trials. And two of the 10 valerian root supplements tested contained small amounts of lead, a potentially harmful heavy metal. All but one product tested contained the levels of valerenic acids expected from labels, and the amounts of valerenic acids in a suggested daily serving varied widely, from one mg to as much as 7.2 mg.