Fraud is a pervasive problem across both the supplements and food & beverage sectors, taking on a multitude of forms including substitution, concealment and mislabelling. In the case of the ashwagandha extract market, many players – while perhaps falling short of full-blown fraudulence – are nonetheless misleading customers through a practice known as ‘leaf adulteration’.

This worrying trend sees numerous suppliers incorporating leaf material into their products, when it is the root of the ashwagandha plant – and the root alone – that has been revered for millennia for its powerful bioactive properties, and which is today clinically proven to deliver remarkable adaptogenic benefits.

The fact that esteemed international bodies like the World Health Organization recognise the root as the only standard when it comes to ashwagandha’s efficacy and its safety for consumption should speak volumes when sourcing an ashwagandha extract. So too should the fact that ashwagandha leaves can be up to 100 times cheaper than the roots – a strong indicator of the stark difference in quality and efficacy between the two components of the plant.

KSM-66 – the highest concentration (and best-selling), full-spectrum, organic ashwagandha root extract – is a brand committed to never using leaf material in its formulation for all the aforementioned reasons, as well as from a strong CSR standpoint.

The video below illustrates the pervasive problem of ‘leaf adulteration’ in the ashwagandha extract market, and emphasises how high standards start down in the root.