Pharmaceutical Ingredients Detected in Dietary Supplements Purchased by Chiba Prefecture (Fiscal Years 2014-2021)

Abstract

In the pharmaceutical ingredients contamination testing of 702 commercial dietary supplement products, during fiscal years 2014-2021, 14 pharmaceutical ingredients, barrenwort, leaf axils of senna, and small leaf of senna were detected in 28 products. Screening and confirmation of the pharmaceutical ingredients in the products were performed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-kingdon trap mass spectrometry, respectively. In particular, leaf axils and small leaf of senna were identified by stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, we found several pharmaceutical ingredients that exceeded the daily medicated dosage; therefore, it is important to prevent the distribution of such products to prevent the occurrence of health hazard. For that reason, it is necessary to continue the sample purchasing and testing systems to monitor the distribution of products containing pharmaceutical ingredients.