Quality Assessment of Some Herbal Aphrodisiac Instant Coffee Premix Products Marketed in Kaduna, Nigeria

Abstract

Aphrodisiac refers to any substance (food, drink or drug) or practice that is believed to stimulate sexual desire or enhance sexual pleasure and performance. There have been reports indicating lack of good manufacturing practices and adulteration of herbal aphrodisiac with phosphodiestrate-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors without consideration of public safety. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of three herbal aphrodisiac instant coffee premix products, through physicochemical analysis, elemental analysis, quantification of caffeine, detection and quantification of undeclared adulterants. Physicochemical properties of the three samples of herbal aphrodisiac products were determined using the methods described by World Health Organization 2011, while elemental analysis was conducted using nitric acidhydrochloric acid (1:3) digestion mixtures and subsequent analysis for the presence of lead, copper, cadmium, zinc and iron using micro plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer (MP-AES). Iodometric titration was used for quantification of caffeine levels in the samples while fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy were used for the detection and quantification of undeclared adulterants respectively. Moisture content (2.33 %, 2.83 % and 1.60 %) and ash value (10.50 %, 11.67 % and 0.98 %) of the samples A, B and C respectively were found to be within the official permissible limit. The samples were found to be rich in iron and zinc; however, the levels of lead, cadmium, and copper were above the WHO permissible limits. The concentrations of caffeine in the samples were less than the acceptable WHO limit of 400 mg/day. However, sildenafil was detected in two of the products (151.45 mg and 82.15 mg), while tadalafil was detected in one of the products (36.13 mg). The herbal aphrodisiacs were adulterated with either sildenafil or tadalafil, and contained relatively high levels of lead, cadmium, and copper. However, moisture content, ash value, and caffeine content met the WHO requirements.