Safety

     Cat’s claw is sold under the category of herb or dietary supplement, meaning it is not regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration.  That means that there is no regulation on manufacturing or potency standardization and such the safety and efficacy of cat’s claw preparations have not been tested extensively.  Another issue arises with cat’s claw in particular, due to the two chemotypes of the plant, which have different effects because of the chemical make up of each type.  The Ashaninka tribe in the Peruvian rainforests, who have the longest history of using the plant medicinally, claimed that only their healers had the ability “to see the good spirits” in the vine’s that had the desired health benefits.  Today, it is possible to determine the chemical make up of each plant using high performance liquid chromatography, as a plant can change its chemical make up from year to year.