Short Lecture “Botanical ingredient identity and its importance for a safety assessment”

One of the most important aspects of botanical ingredient quality control is to ensure the identity and authenticity of the labelled material. Despite this seemingly straightforward step to ensure consistent quality, literature is rife with examples of herbal dietary supplement products that have been accidentally or intentionally adulterated. A series of papers published by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) provides ample evidence for presence of mislabelled or adulterated ingredients and products on the global marketplace.

In most cases, the adulterants do not represent a safety risk for the consumer. However, this is not always true. Prominent examples of serious adverse events due to adulterated botanicals include adulteration of products containing Stephania tetrandra with the kidney-toxic plant Aristolochia fangchi, resulting in over a hundred cases of aristolochic acid-induced nephropathy in Belgium, or the sale of Plantago spp. contaminated with Digitalis lanata, leading to cases of hospitalisation due to intoxication with cardiac glycosides.

The biggest safety issue for dietary supplements currently based on enforcement actions by regulatory agencies is the sale of prescription drugs labelled as herbal dietary supplements. Such adulteration is particularly prominent in the erectile dysfunction, weight loss, and bodybuilding categories. However, other types of adulterants also pose a safety risk, and, at the same time, lead to ingredients being erroneously considered as causative agents for negative adverse effects. The presentation will emphasise the importance of identity testing and provide examples from the recent literature of adulterants that can be harmful to consumers.

 

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Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023