Buying hawthorn: what actually makes two packs comparable
Futures Nutrition Editorial Team · 14 August 2026
Buying hawthorn: what actually makes two packs comparable
Two hawthorn packs can only be compared through three pieces of information: which plant part of which species was processed, what the milligram figure refers to, and what one daily portion costs. Everything else on the front of the pack — the big number, the heart in the logo, "high strength" — is design. Anyone who finds those three details can do the arithmetic; anyone who cannot is buying a pack that cannot be set in relation to any other.
That sounds strict, but it is the normal case on the shelf. Hawthorn is sold as a tea, as drops, as a coated tablet containing ground plant material and as a tablet containing a concentrate, and the same number means something different in each of these forms.
The milligram figure needs a reference
"300 mg hawthorn" can mean two things: 300 mg of extract, or 300 mg of plant equivalent — that is, the amount of dried plant the extract was made from. Between the two lies the factor of the drug-extract ratio, so with a 20:1 extract, twenty times.
An example: 30 mg of extract at a ratio of 20:1 corresponds to 600 mg of dried berry. A pack printing "600 mg" on the front and one stating "30 mg" can contain exactly the same thing. If the reference is missing, the number is useless for a comparison. Why a high ratio does not mean "stronger" either is set out in detail in Hawthorn extract: what 20:1 actually means.
The second detail without which no comparison works is the plant part. The European Pharmacopoeia lists two separate herbal drugs for hawthorn: leaf with flower from Crataegus monogyna and C. laevigata, measured by flavonoids (at least 1.5 %), and the fruit, measured by procyanidins expressed as cyanidin chloride (at least 0.06 %). Two groups of substances, two test methods — figures from one monograph say nothing about the other. Many berry extracts also come from Crataegus pinnatifida, Chinese hawthorn, a third species with its own tradition.
The price per month, not per pack
The second calculation is plain arithmetic, but it is rarely done, because no pack offers it. It runs in three steps:
- Duration = number of units ÷ daily portion (in units)
- Price per 30 days = pack price ÷ duration × 30
- Price per 1,000 mg plant equivalent = price per 30 days ÷ (plant equivalent per day × 30 ÷ 1,000)
The third step is the decisive one, because it takes both pack size and dosage out of the equation. Three constructed packs, composed the way they are on the shelf:
| Pack A | Pack B | Pack C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | 60 capsules, 400 mg berry powder | 90 tablets, 100 mg extract 4:1 | 180 tablets, 30 mg extract 20:1 |
| Daily portion | 2 capsules | 2 tablets | 1 tablet |
| Plant equivalent per day | 800 mg | 800 mg | 600 mg |
| Duration | 30 days | 45 days | 180 days |
| Example price | €9.00 | €15.00 | €24.00 |
| Price per 30 days | €9.00 | €10.00 | €4.00 |
| Price per 1,000 mg plant equivalent | €0.38 | €0.42 | €0.22 |
The cheapest pack on the shelf is the most expensive per month, and the most expensive is the cheapest. That is not down to the price but to the duration: A lasts a month, C half a year. Between A and B, by contrast, the deciding factor is not the duration but the processing — both deliver the same 800 mg of plant equivalent, once as ground berry and once as an extract.
One caveat belongs with this table: the plant equivalent is the only common reference two preparations have at all — but it is not a statement about efficacy. It says how much plant went in, not what ended up in the extract. Two figures are therefore only comparable if the plant part and the extraction solvent match. How far the ranges can diverge is shown by the European Medicines Agency's assessment report on hawthorn leaf with flower (EMA/HMPC/159076/2014): side by side it lists a coated tablet with 190 mg of plant powder and a tablet with 80 mg of extract — both preparations of the same herbal drug used as intended.
What every pack has to state
Which details are mandatory is governed by the German Food Supplements Ordinance (NemV) in § 4. Paragraph 2 names five points, paragraph 3 the two on which the comparison hangs:
| Detail | Legal basis | What it is good for in a comparison |
|---|---|---|
| The designation "food supplement" | § 4(1) | separates the product from a medicine |
| Categories of the characterising substances | § 4(2) no. 1 | says what is in it at all |
| Recommended daily intake in portions | § 4(2) no. 2 | the basis of the duration |
| Warning not to exceed that amount | § 4(2) no. 3 | — |
| Note on a balanced diet, storage out of reach of children | § 4(2) nos. 4 and 5 | — |
| Amount per stated daily portion, as an average analytical value | § 4(3) no. 1 | the actual comparison figure |
| Percentage of the reference value — vitamins and minerals only | § 4(3) no. 2 | places nutrients within a combination product |
There is no reference value for hawthorn itself; the nutrient reference values in Annex XIII of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 apply only to vitamins and minerals. A missing percentage next to the plant extract is therefore not a defect — a missing milligram figure per daily portion is.
Warning signs on the label
- No plant part, no species. "Hawthorn extract" on its own leaves open whether berry or leaf with flower was processed — and therefore also which test method could be applied at all.
- No reference behind the milligram figure. Without "extract" or "corresponding to … plant", the number cannot be placed.
- Health promises. The EU register lists no health claim authorised under Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 for Crataegus. Article 12 of the regulation additionally prohibits claims suggesting that not consuming a food could affect health, claims about the rate or amount of weight loss, and references to recommendations of individual doctors.
- "Diet alone is not enough." § 4(4) NemV expressly prohibits this claim.
- Comparisons with medicines. The dosages in the EU monograph apply to medicinal preparations from leaf with flower. Placing them next to a food supplement compares two legal frameworks and usually two plant parts as well.
What can be checked beyond that — identity, certificate of analysis, residues — depends on documents the manufacturer releases on request. The maximum levels for contaminants in food supplements are set out in Regulation (EU) 2023/915: 3.0 mg/kg lead, 1.0 mg/kg cadmium, 0.10 mg/kg mercury and 400 µg/kg pyrrolizidine alkaloids for products containing herbal preparations. For mycotoxins in herbal food supplements, by contrast, no maximum level has been set — there, the manufacturer alone decides what gets tested. Asking about it costs one email.
Combination products: what you buy along with it
Hawthorn rarely stands alone in the tub. The most frequent companion is magnesium, and there is a comprehensible reason for that: the plant extract carries no authorised claim, the mineral does. Magnesium contributes to normal muscle function — this sentence may appear on the pack as soon as at least 15 % of the nutrient reference value of 375 mg is contained per daily portion, i.e. 56.25 mg.
For the purchasing decision that means two things. First: the 15 % is a labelling threshold, not a supply recommendation — anyone specifically looking for magnesium will find a multiple of it in a single-ingredient product. Second: part of the price goes to the second ingredient, so the price per 1,000 mg of plant equivalent rises. What that calculation looks like in detail is in Magnesium in combination supplements.
Our own product, worked through
Our tub states hawthorn + magnesium: per tablet a hawthorn berry extract from Crataegus pinnatifida at a ratio of 20:1, corresponding to 600 mg of berry powder, plus 56.25 mg of magnesium from magnesium oxide. Recommended intake: one tablet a day.
So the pack works out like this: 180 tablets ÷ 1 tablet a day = 180 days' duration, that is six months; per 30 days a sixth of the pack price and 18,000 mg of plant equivalent. Not stated are the extraction solvent and a standardised procyanidin content — both are the rule with food supplements, because standardisation to a marker substance belongs to medicines law. Further preparations are in the hawthorn and magnesium categories.
Food supplements are not a substitute for a balanced and varied diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Frequently asked questions
Is a higher milligram figure the better product? Not without a reference. 600 mg of plant equivalent and 600 mg of extract are a factor of 20 apart with a 20:1 extract. Only once both packs name the same reference and process the same plant part is the larger number also the larger amount.
Why is the duration not on the pack? Because it is not required. What § 4(2) NemV requires is the recommended daily intake in portions and the number of units — the division is yours to do. It is precisely in that gap that small packs look cheap.
Is the large pack always worth it? On paper almost always, in practice not necessarily. A six-month supply is only cheaper if it actually gets used up; the best-before date is on the tub and limits the calculation. Anyone trying hawthorn for the first time buys information rather than a supply with the small pack.
Can I compare a food supplement with a hawthorn medicine? Only to a limited extent. Medicines made from hawthorn as a rule contain extracts from leaf with flower and must demonstrate a consistent content; food supplements fall under food law and declare what is contained without guaranteeing an active-substance content. The milligram figures therefore refer to two different starting materials.
