ConsumerLab.com, White Plains, NY, has reported that more than half of the cholesterol-lowering supplements that it recently purchased failed to contain their listed ingredients and/or could not adequately break apart to release their contents. One product, for example, contained less than 10% of its claimed ingredient. Tablets of another product costing over $80 per month were so hard that only a hammer could break them. ConsumerLab.com tested products having one of three plant-derived ingredients, including guggulsterones, policosanol or sterols, which have all been shown in clinical studies to reduce total cholesterol and LDL by about 10-15%. Only one out of five guggulsterone products passed testing, while the other four contained from 4-74% of the expected ingredient. Only three of seven policosanol supplements passed testing, while the other four contained from 23-79% of the expected ingredient and one of these, as noted above, was also too hard to break apart. Of four sterol supplements tested, three passed but one failed for containing only 77% of the expected ingredient and also could not fully break apart.