Spectroscopic and Spectrometric Methods Used for the Screening of Certain Herbal Food Supplements Suspected of Adulteration.

Adina Elena Raducanu,Anca Mihaela Popescu,Gabriel Lucian Radu,Tatiana Onisei,Cristina Mateescu

doi:10.15171/apb.2017.030

Abstract

Purpose: This study was carried out in order to find a reliable method for the fast detection of adulterated herbal food supplements with sexual enhancement claims. As some herbal products are advertised as "all natural", their "efficiency" is often increased by addition of active pharmaceutical ingredients such as PDE-5 inhibitors, which can be a real health threat for the consumer. Methodes: Adulterants, potentially present in 50 herbal food supplements with sexual improvement claims, were detected using 2 spectroscopic methods - Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared - known for reliability, reproductibility, and an easy sample preparation. GC-MS technique was used to confirm the potential adulterants spectra. Results: About 22% (11 out of 50 samples) of herbal food supplements with sexual enhancement claims analyzed by spectroscopic and spectrometric methods proved to be "enriched" with active pharmaceutical compounds such as: sildenafil and two of its analogues, tadalafil and phenolphthalein. The occurence of phenolphthalein could be the reason for the non-relevant results obtained by FTIR method in some samples. 91% of the adulterated herbal food supplements were originating from China. Conclusion: The results of this screening highlighted the necessity for an accurate analysis of all alleged herbal aphrodisiacs on the Romanian market. This is a first such a screening analysis carried out on herbal food supplements with sexual enhancement claims.

Highlights

During the last period, the consumption of herbal food supplements meant to improve sexual performance has seen a considerable increase
PDE-5 inhibitors are not recommended for patients on specific prescriptions as: organic nitrates, as they can cause serious and unpredictable blood pressure falls
The specific bands corresponding to the characteristic functional groups of sildenafil were identified at 1698 cm-1 as well as at the doublet 1580/1563 cm-1

Summary

Introduction

The consumption of herbal food supplements meant to improve sexual performance has seen a considerable increase. Most consumers trust “100% Natural” advertised products considering them as safe and side effects free.[1] In spite of consumers’belief, this category of herbal supplements could be "tainted" with legal drugs such as: sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, as well as their analogues All these substances were not tested from pharmacological or pharmacokinetic point of view.[2,3] Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5 inhibitors), namely sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil are drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction and can be consumed only on medical prescription.[4,5,6] PDE-5 inhibitors are not recommended for patients on specific prescriptions as: organic nitrates (e.g. nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, isosorbide mononitrate, amyl nitrite, or nitrate used for the treatment of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and ischemic heart disease), as they can cause serious and unpredictable blood pressure falls. As soon as the adulteration was detected, the GC-MS technique was applied to confirme the adulterants spectra in the respective samples

Methods

Results

Conclusion