Phytoecdysteroids (PEs) are known to exert a non-hormonal, mild anabolic and adaptogenic
activity in mammals [1], which makes ecdysteroid-rich plant extracts and purified
20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) attractive food supplements. A well-known European vegetable
containing relatively low amounts of ecdysteroids is spinach [2,3]. Cyanotis arachnoidea (C. a.), a plant native in China, is among the richest sources of PEs. Several companies
from the Far-East offer tons per year amounts of C. a. extracts via Internet at highly competitive prices. This plant, however, is considered
a “novel food” within the EU, which is a serious limitation to the free marketing
of its preparations. By using various chromatographic and spectroscopic methods, we
found that a series of food supplements produced in Germany and marketed as “spinach-extracts”
in fact contained C. a. instead of spinach. From one of these products, 13 ecdysteroids (20E and its 2- and
3-acetate, ajugasterone C and its 2- and 3-acetates, shidasterone and its 2-acetate,
dacryhainansterone, rubrosterone, 5α-20E, and 25R- and 25S-podecdysone C) were isolated. The products' chromatographic fingerprints showed very
high similarity to those of two independently purchased samples of commercial C. a. extracts, while displaying fundamental differences to the composition of a European
spinach extract prepared by us. This case represents an unusual type of dietary supplement
counterfeiting: the alleged pharmacological activities are supposedly enhanced by
the addition of undeclared extracts from alternative plants that contain higher amounts
of the same active ingredient(s). Although this is to “guarantee” product efficacy,
the basic requirements of European dietary supplement regulations (correct declaration
of composition, dosage, safety, etc.) are obviously violated.
Acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the European Union and co-funded
by the European Social Fund (TÁMOP-4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012 – 0035).
Keywords: ecdysteroid, 20-hydroxyecdysone, spinach, Cyanotis arachnoidea, food supplement
References:
[1] Báthori M, Tóth N, Hunyadi A, Márki A, Zádor E. Phytoecdysteroids and Anabolic-Androgenic
Steroids – Structure and Effects on Humans. Curr. Med. Chem. 15, 75 – 91 (2008)
[2] Báthory M, Tóth I, Szendrei K, Reisch J. Edysteroids in Chenopodiaceae: Spinacia
oleracea and Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus. Phytochemistry 21, 236 – 238 (1982)
[3] Grebenok RJ, Ripa PV, Adler JH. Occurence and levels of ecdysteroids in spinach.
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