DER is an abbreviation for drug extract ratio, i.e. the ratio of the amount of plant raw material used in production to the amount of extract obtained. The term comes from the technical description of herbal products. The English drug here means raw material, and the notation DER itself does not make the supplement a medicinal product.
Characteristics and context
The example 10:1 informs about the ratio of quantities in the process, not about the effect being ten times stronger. It is also important whether the number concerns the native extract, without auxiliary substances, or a ready-made mixture. The part of the plant and the solvent used for extraction are important. Two extracts with identical DER may have different compound profiles. DER should therefore be distinguished from standardization, which describes the content of a specified ingredient or group of substances.
Meaning and application
A practical reading starts with checking both sides of the ratio. When describing 10:1, it is also necessary to determine whether the manufacturer refers to it as a dry raw material or another form and to what extract. The extract may contain an added carrier, therefore the weight of the powder poured into the capsule is not always the weight of the native extract. Without these details, calculating "plant equivalent" can produce misleading comparisons. Two numbers with the same notation do not guarantee an identical technological process.
In practice
Water and water-alcohol mixtures can obtain different groups of compounds from the same plant. Therefore, DER is not used to create a universal ranking of the potencies of all extracts. The most useful description combines the species name, plant part, type of extract, solvent and possible standardization. Only on this basis can it be assessed whether materials of a similar type are being compared. The production parameter talks about the preparation of the raw material, and not about the expected effect after using the finished product.