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Adulteration of Brain Health (Cognitive, Mood, and Sleep Enhancement) Food Supplements by the Addition of Pharmaceutical Drugs: A Comprehensive Review of Analytical Approaches and Trends
Publication . Paiva, Rafael; Correia, Manuela; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Amaral, Joana S.
In recent years, the consumption of dietary supplements has grown worldwide, particularly in developed regions. However, this growing market has also become a prime target for adulteration practices, with some manufacturers illegally adding pharmaceuticals into plant-based food supplements (PFS) to enhance their effects. While extensive research has focused on detecting adulterant drugs in PFS tailored for improving sexual performance, weight loss, and muscle building, less attention has been given to supplements intended for mood enhancement, sleep aid, and cognitive function (nootropics). Nonetheless, recent reports indicate an increasing level of adulteration within this group of PFS. Therefore, this review aims at providing a comprehensive overview on the adulteration of PFS tailored for brain health, with a focus on the analytical techniques utilized for detection while also presenting data on consumption patterns and the prevalence of reported adulterants. Considering that the detection of such fraudulent practices primarily relies on chromatographic techniques coupled with mass spectrometry (MS), the developments in this field comprising either targeted or untargeted analysis of pharmaceutical adulterants are discussed.
Development of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for the rapid detection of Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott as an adulterant of Ginkgo biloba (L.)
Publication . Rodrigues, Vânia; Honrado, Mónica; Santos, Joana; Pinto, M. Alice; Amaral, Joana S.; Rodrigues, Vânia
Species adulteration is a concern in herbal products, especially when plant substitutes of lower economic value replace valuable botanicals. Styphnolobium japonicum is well known as a potential adulterant of Ginkgo biloba, which is one of the most demanded medicinal plants due to its wide use in pharmaceuticals, food supplements, and traditional medicine. Despite bearing some resemblance to ginkgo's flavonol composition, S. japonicum lacks many of G. biloba's desired therapeutic properties. To prevent adulteration practices, it is crucial to implement rigorous quality control measures, including fast and simple diagnostic tools that can be used on-field. Purpose: This study aims to develop for the first time a species-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for the fast identification of S. japonicum in ginkgo-containing products. Methods: A set of four specific primers (SjF3, SjB3, SjFIP, and SjBIP) and loop primers (SjLF and SjLB) were designed for a LAMP based assay using the 5.8S partial sequence and the internal transcribed spacer 2 of nuclear ribosomal DNA of S. japonicum. Results: The successful amplification of the LAMP assay was inspected through visual detection, with the highest intensity recorded at the optimal conditions set at 68 °C for 40 min. The primers showed high specificity and were able to accurately discriminate S. japonicum from G. biloba and 49 other species of medicinal plants. Furthermore, the proposed LAMP assay proved to be fast, selective, and highly sensitive, as demonstrated by the absolute and relative limits of detection, which were reached at 0.5 pg for S. japonicum DNA and 0.01 % S. japonicum in G. biloba, respectively. Conclusions: This novel approach allows easy identification and discrimination of S. japonicum as a potential adulterant of G. biloba, thus being a useful tool for quality control. Compared to chromatographic or PCR-based methods, the assay proved to be fast, sensitive and did not require expensive equipment, thus offering the possibly usage in field analysis.
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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Programa de financiamento
3599-PPCDT
Número da atribuição
PTDC/SAU-PUB/3803/2021