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Quiroz-Delfi GO, Rider CV, Ferguson SS, Jarmusch AK, Mueller GA. Non-targeted chemical analysis of consumer botanical products labeled as blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), or yohimbe bark (Pausinystalia yohimbe) by NMR and MS. Anal Bioanal Chem 2024; 416:175-189. [PMID: 37910202 PMCID: PMC11185429 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-05004-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Consumers have unprecedented access to botanical dietary supplements through online retailers, making it difficult to ensure product quality and authenticity. Therefore, methods to survey and compare chemical compositions across botanical products are needed. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and non-targeted mass spectrometry (MS) were used to chemically analyze commercial products labeled as containing one of three botanicals: blue cohosh, goldenseal, and yohimbe bark. Aqueous and organic phase extracts were prepared and analyzed in tandem with NMR followed by MS. We processed the non-targeted data using multivariate statistics to analyze the compositional similarity across extracts. In each case, there were several product outliers that were identified using principal component analysis (PCA). Evaluation of select known constituents proved useful to contextualize PCA subgroups, which in some cases supported or refuted product authenticity. The NMR and MS data reached similar conclusions independently but were also complementary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni O Quiroz-Delfi
- Genome Integrity and Structural Biology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
- Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease Laboratory, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
- Division of Translational Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Cynthia V Rider
- Division of Translational Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Stephen S Ferguson
- Division of Translational Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Alan K Jarmusch
- Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease Laboratory, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA
| | - Geoffrey A Mueller
- Genome Integrity and Structural Biology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, 27709, USA.
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2
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Raclariu-Manolică AC, Socaciu C. In Search of Authenticity Biomarkers in Food Supplements Containing Sea Buckthorn: A Metabolomics Approach. Foods 2023; 12:4493. [PMID: 38137297 PMCID: PMC10742966 DOI: 10.3390/foods12244493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) (SB) is increasingly consumed worldwide as a food and food supplement. The remarkable richness in biologically active phytochemicals (polyphenols, carotenoids, sterols, vitamins) is responsible for its purported nutritional and health-promoting effects. Despite the considerable interest and high market demand for SB-based supplements, a limited number of studies report on the authentication of such commercially available products. Herein, untargeted metabolomics based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-ESI+MS) were able to compare the phytochemical fingerprint of leaves, berries, and various categories of SB-berry herbal supplements (teas, capsules, tablets, liquids). By untargeted metabolomics, a multivariate discrimination analysis and a univariate approach (t-test and ANOVA) showed some putative authentication biomarkers for berries, e.g., xylitol, violaxanthin, tryptophan, quinic acid, quercetin-3-rutinoside. Significant dominant molecules were found for leaves: luteolin-5-glucoside, arginine, isorhamnetin 3-rutinoside, serotonin, and tocopherol. The univariate analysis showed discriminations between the different classes of food supplements using similar algorithms. Finally, eight molecules were selected and considered significant putative authentication biomarkers. Further studies will be focused on quantitative evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ancuța Cristina Raclariu-Manolică
- Stejarul Research Centre for Biological Sciences, National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 610004 Piatra Neamț, Romania;
| | - Carmen Socaciu
- Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- BIODIATECH—Research Center for Applied Biotechnology in Diagnosis and Molecular Therapy, 400478 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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Grazina L, Mafra I, Monaci L, Amaral JS. Mass spectrometry-based approaches to assess the botanical authenticity of dietary supplements. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 2023; 22:3870-3909. [PMID: 37548598 DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.13222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Dietary supplements are legally considered foods despite frequently including medicinal plants as ingredients. Currently, the consumption of herbal dietary supplements, also known as plant food supplements (PFS), is increasing worldwide and some raw botanicals, highly demanded due to their popularity, extensive use, and/or well-established pharmacological effects, have been attaining high prices in the international markets. Therefore, botanical adulteration for profit increase can occur along the whole PFS industry chain, from raw botanicals to plant extracts, until final PFS. Besides the substitution of high-value species, unintentional mislabeling can happen in morphologically similar species. Both cases represent a health risk for consumers, prompting the development of numerous works to access botanical adulterations in PFS. Among different approaches proposed for this purpose, mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques have often been reported as the most promising, particularly when hyphenated with chromatographic techniques. Thus, this review aims at describing an overview of the developments in this field, focusing on the applications of MS-based techniques to targeted and untargeted analysis to detect botanical adulterations in plant materials, extracts, and PFS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liliana Grazina
- REQUIMTE-LAQV, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Isabel Mafra
- REQUIMTE-LAQV, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Linda Monaci
- ISPA-CNR, Institute of Sciences of Food Production of National Research Council of Italy, Bari, Italy
| | - Joana S Amaral
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
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Abraham EJ, Wallace ED, Kellogg JJ. A comparison of high- and low-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for herbal product classification: A case study with Ocimum essential oils. PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS : PCA 2023; 34:680-691. [PMID: 37393908 DOI: 10.1002/pca.3258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Selection of marker compounds for targeted chemical analysis is complicated when considering varying instrumentation and closely related plant species. High-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), via orbitrap detection, has yet to be evaluated for improved marker compound selection. OBJECTIVE This study directly compares high- and low-resolution GC-MS for botanical maker compound selection using Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (OT) and Ocimum gratissimum L. (OG) for botanical ingredient authentication. METHODS The essential oils of OT and OG were collected via hydrodistillation before untargeted chemical analysis with gas chromatography coupled to single-quadrupole (GC-SQ) and orbitrap (GC-Orbitrap) detectors. The Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) software was used for compound annotation, and a manual search was used to find the 41 most common Ocimum essential oil metabolites. RESULTS The GC-Orbitrap resulted in 1.7-fold more metabolite detection and increased dynamic range compared to the GC-SQ. Spectral matching and manual searching were improved with GC-Orbitrap data. Each instrument had differing known compound concentrations; however, there was an overlap of six compounds with higher abundance in OG than OT and three compounds with a higher abundance in OT than OG, suggesting consistent detection of the most variable compounds. An unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) could not discern the two species with either dataset. CONCLUSION GC-Orbitrap instrumentation improves compound detection, dynamic range, and feature annotation in essential oil analysis. However, considering both high- and low-resolution data may improve reliable marker compound selection, as GC-Orbitrap analysis alone did not improve unsupervised separation of two Ocimum species compared to GC-SQ data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn J Abraham
- Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - E Diane Wallace
- Mass Spectrometry Lab, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Joshua J Kellogg
- Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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Raclariu-Manolică AC, Mauvisseau Q, Paranaiba R, De Boer HJ, Socaciu C. Authentication of milk thistle commercial products using UHPLC-QTOF-ESI + MS metabolomics and DNA metabarcoding. BMC Complement Med Ther 2023; 23:257. [PMID: 37480124 PMCID: PMC10360273 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-023-04091-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Milk thistle is one of the most popular hepatoprotectants, and is often sold in combination with other ingredients. Botanical supplements are known to be vulnerable to contamination and adulteration, and emerging technologies show promise to improve their quality control. METHODS Untargeted and semi-targeted metabolomics based on UHPLC-QTOF-ESI+MS techniques, UV spectrometry, and DNA metabarcoding using Illumina MiSeq were used to authenticate eighteen milk thistle botanical formulations (teas, capsules, tablets, emulsion). RESULTS Untargeted metabolomics separated 217 molecules and by multivariate analysis the discrimination between the different preparations was established. The semi-targeted metabolomics focused on 63 phytochemicals, mainly silymarin flavonolignans and flavonoids, that may be considered as putative biomarkers of authenticity. All formulations contained molecules from silymarin complexes at different levels. The quantitative evaluation of silybins was done using in parallel UV spectrometry and UHPLC-QTOF-ESI+MS and their correlations were compared. DNA metabarcoding detected milk thistle in eleven out of sixteen retained preparations, whereas two others had incomplete evidence of milk thistle despite metabolomics validating specific metabolites, e.g., silymarin complex, identified and quantified in all samples. Meanwhile, the DNA metabarcoding provided insights into the total species composition allowing the interpretation of the results in a broad context. CONCLUSION Our study emphasizes that combining spectroscopic, chromatographic, and genetic techniques bring complementary information to guarantee the quality of the botanical formulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ancuța Cristina Raclariu-Manolică
- Stejarul Research Centre for Biological Sciences, National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, Alexandru cel Bun Street, 6, Piatra Neamț, 610004, Romania.
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172, Blindern, Oslo, 0318, Norway.
| | - Quentin Mauvisseau
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172, Blindern, Oslo, 0318, Norway
| | - Renato Paranaiba
- Natural Products Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, 70910-900, Brazil
- DNA Laboratory, National Institute of Criminalistics, Brazilian Federal Police, SAIS Quadra 7, Lote 23, Brasília, DF, 70610-200, Brazil
| | - Hugo J De Boer
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172, Blindern, Oslo, 0318, Norway
| | - Carmen Socaciu
- Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Mănăştur Street, nr. 3-5, Cluj Napoca, 400372, Romania
- BIODIATECH- Research Center for Applied Biotechnology in Diagnosis and Molecular Therapy, Trifoiului Street 12G, Cluj-Napoca, 400478, Romania
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Labeling compliance and online claims for Ayurvedic herbal supplements on the U.S. market associated with the purported treatment of COVID-19. Food Control 2023; 148:109673. [PMID: 36778101 PMCID: PMC9901855 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2023.109673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumers increased their use of supplements that claimed to support immune health, including Ayurvedic preparations. The goal of this study was to analyze labeling compliance and online claims for Ayurvedic herbal supplements associated with the purported treatment of COVID-19. The physical product labels for 51 herbal supplements labeled as ginger, tulsi/holy basil, amla, vacha/calamus root, guduchi/giloy, cinnamon, ashwagandha, tribulus, or turmeric were assessed for U.S. regulatory compliance. Disease claims, structure/function claims, and general well-being claims were also examined. The online listings for products purchased online (n = 42) were examined for claims and for the presence of the required legal disclaimer. Collectively, 61% of products had at least one instance of noncompliance on the physical label. The most common violations included missing/noncompliant disclaimer (33%), noncompliant "Supplement Facts" label (29%), noncompliant statement of identity (27%) and noncompliant domestic mailing address or phone number (25%). Structure/function claims occurred more frequently in the online product listings (average of 5 claims per product) compared to the physical labels (average of 2 claims per product). Disease claims were observed for 38% of online product listings and on 8% of physical labels. The use of disease claims on herbal supplements is a significant concern for public health because it may lead consumers to delay seeking professional treatment for life-threatening diseases. Overall, this study revealed a lack of labeling compliance among Ayurvedic herbal supplements and a need for greater scrutiny and monitoring of online product listings.
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Raclariu-Manolică AC, Mauvisseau Q, de Boer HJ. Horizon scan of DNA-based methods for quality control and monitoring of herbal preparations. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1179099. [PMID: 37214460 PMCID: PMC10193163 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1179099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Herbal medicines and preparations are widely used in healthcare systems globally, but concerns remain about their quality and safety. New herbal products are constantly being introduced to the market under varying regulatory frameworks, with no global consensus on their definition or characterization. These biologically active mixtures are sold through complex globalized value chains, which create concerns around contamination and profit-driven adulteration. Industry, academia, and regulatory bodies must collaborate to develop innovative strategies for the identification and authentication of botanicals and their preparations to ensure quality control. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) has significantly improved our understanding of the total species diversity within DNA mixtures. The standard concept of DNA barcoding has evolved over the last two decades to encompass genomic data more broadly. Recent research in DNA metabarcoding has focused on developing methods for quantifying herbal product ingredients, yielding meaningful results in a regulatory framework. Techniques, such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), DNA barcode-based Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (BAR-RPA), DNA barcoding coupled with High-Resolution Melting (Bar-HRM), and microfluidics-based methods, offer more affordable tests for the detection of target species. While target capture sequencing and genome skimming are considerably increasing the species identification resolution in challenging plant clades, ddPCR enables the quantification of DNA in samples and could be used to detect intended and unwanted ingredients in herbal medicines. Here, we explore the latest advances in emerging DNA-based technologies and the opportunities they provide as taxa detection tools for evaluating the safety and quality of dietary supplements and herbal medicines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ancuța Cristina Raclariu-Manolică
- Stejarul Research Centre for Biological Sciences, National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, Piatra Neamț, Romania
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Rivera-Pérez A, García-Pérez P, Romero-González R, Garrido Frenich A, Lucini L. UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS metabolomics insight on the origin and processing authentication of thyme by comprehensive fingerprinting and chemometrics. Food Chem 2023; 407:135123. [PMID: 36493482 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The metabolic composition of thyme, one of the most used aromatic herbs, is influenced by environmental and post-harvest processing factors, presenting the possibility of exploiting thyme fingerprint to assess its authenticity. In this study, a comprehensive UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS fingerprinting approach was applied with a dual objective: (1) tracing thyme from three regions of production (Spain, Morocco, and Poland) and (2) evaluating the metabolic differences in response to processing, considering sterilized thyme samples. Multivariate statistics reveal 37 and 33 key origin and processing differentiation compounds, respectively. The findings highlighted the remarkable "terroir" influence on thyme fingerprint, noticing flavonoids, amino acids, and peptides among the most discriminant chemical classes. Thyme sterilization led to an overall metabolite enrichment, most likely due to the facilitated compound accessibility as a result of processing. The findings provide a comprehensive metabolomics insight into the origin and processing effect on thyme composition for product traceability and quality assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Araceli Rivera-Pérez
- Research Group "Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants", Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Centre for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agrifood Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (ceiA3), University of Almeria, E-04120 Almeria, Spain; Department for Sustainable Food Process - DiSTAS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
| | - Pascual García-Pérez
- Department for Sustainable Food Process - DiSTAS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy; Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Analytical and Food Chemistry Department, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Univesidade de Vigo, Ourense Campus, 32004 Ourense, Spain
| | - Roberto Romero-González
- Research Group "Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants", Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Centre for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agrifood Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (ceiA3), University of Almeria, E-04120 Almeria, Spain
| | - Antonia Garrido Frenich
- Research Group "Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants", Department of Chemistry and Physics, Research Centre for Mediterranean Intensive Agrosystems and Agrifood Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (ceiA3), University of Almeria, E-04120 Almeria, Spain
| | - Luigi Lucini
- Department for Sustainable Food Process - DiSTAS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy.
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Raclariu-Manolică AC, Socaciu C. Detecting and Profiling of Milk Thistle Metabolites in Food Supplements: A Safety-Oriented Approach by Advanced Analytics. Metabolites 2023; 13:metabo13030440. [PMID: 36984880 PMCID: PMC10052194 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13030440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.) is among the top-selling botanicals used as a supportive treatment for liver diseases. Silymarin, a mixture of unique flavonolignan metabolites, is the main bioactive component of milk thistle. The biological activities of silymarin have been well described in the literature, and its use is considered safe and well-tolerated in appropriate doses. However, commercial preparations do not always contain the recommended concentrations of silymarin, failing to provide the expected therapeutic effect. While the poor quality of raw material may explain the low concentrations of silymarin, its deliberate removal is suspected to be an adulteration. Toxic contaminants and foreign matters were also detected in milk thistle preparations, raising serious health concerns. Standard methods for determination of silymarin components include thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with various detectors, but nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) have also been applied. This review surveys the extraction techniques of main milk thistle metabolites and the quality, efficacy, and safety of the derived food supplements. Advanced analytical authentication approaches are discussed with a focus on DNA barcoding and metabarcoding to complement orthogonal chemical characterization and fingerprinting of herbal products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ancuța Cristina Raclariu-Manolică
- Stejarul Research Centre for Biological Sciences, National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 610004 Piatra Neamț, Romania
| | - Carmen Socaciu
- Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- BIODIATECH-Research Center for Applied Biotechnology in Diagnosis and Molecular Therapy, 400478 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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Douvris C, Bentil E, Ayensu I, Osei Akoto C, Amponsah IK, Adu J, Bussan D. Trace Metals in Cannabis Seized by Law Enforcement in Ghana and Multivariate Analysis to Distinguish among Different Cannabis Farms. TOXICS 2022; 10:toxics10100567. [PMID: 36287847 PMCID: PMC9612285 DOI: 10.3390/toxics10100567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
For hundreds of years, cannabis has been one of the most known cultivated plants due to its variety of uses, which include as a psychoactive drug, as well as for medicinal activity. Although prohibiting cannabis products, the countries of the African continent are the largest producers of cannabis in the world; a fact that makes the trafficking of cannabis-based illicit drugs a high priority for local law enforcement authorities. The latter are exceedingly interested in the use of chemical analyses for facilitating quantification, identification, and tracing of the origin of seized cannabis samples. Targeting these goals, and focusing on the country of Ghana, the present study used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the determination of 12 elements (Pb, Cu, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, Cd, As, Hg, Fe, Na, and K) in cannabis seized by Ghana's law enforcement authorities and soils of cannabis farms. Furthermore, multivariate analysis was applied to distinguish among different cannabis farms and match them with the samples. As a result, 22 seized cannabis samples and 12 other cannabis samples with their respective soils were analyzed to reveal considerable As and Pb concentrations. As and Pb levels in cannabis were found up to 242 ppb for As and 854 ppb for Pb. Multivariate analysis was applied for separating different cannabis farms and seized samples based on elemental analysis, evidently linking the seized samples with two Ghana regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Douvris
- Theobald Science Center, Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Edward Bentil
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Isaac Ayensu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Clement Osei Akoto
- Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Isaac Kingsley Amponsah
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Joseph Adu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Derek Bussan
- Department of Chemistry, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Ave, Richmond, KY 40475, USA
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You H, Abraham EJ, Mulligan J, Zhou Y, Montoya M, Willig J, Chen BK, Wang CK, Wang LS, Dong A, Shamtsyan M, Nguyen H, Wong A, Wallace TC. Label compliance for ingredient verification: regulations, approaches, and trends for testing botanical products marketed for "immune health" in the United States. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2022; 64:2441-2460. [PMID: 36123797 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2124230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the botanical product market saw a consumer interest increase in immune health supplements. While data are currently insufficient to support public health guidance for using foods and dietary supplements to prevent or treat COVID-19 and other immune disorders, consumer surveys indicate that immune support is the second-most cited reason for supplement use in the United States. Meanwhile, consumers showed increased attention to dietary supplement ingredient labels, especially concerning authenticity and ingredient claims. Top-selling botanical ingredients such as elderberry, turmeric, and functional mushrooms have been increasingly marketed toward consumers to promote immune health, but these popular products succumb to adulteration with inaccurate labeling due to the intentional or unintentional addition of lower grade ingredients, non-target plants, and synthetic compounds, partially due to pandemic-related supply chain issues. This review highlights the regulatory requirements and recommendations for analytical approaches, including chromatography, spectroscopy, and DNA approaches for ingredient claim verification. Demonstrating elderberry, turmeric, and functional mushrooms as examples, this review aims to provide industrial professionals and scientists an overview of current United States regulations, testing approaches, and trends for label compliance verification to ensure the safety of botanical products marketed for "immune health."
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong You
- Eurofins Botanical Testing, US, Inc., Brea, California, USA
- Eurofins US Food, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
| | | | - Jason Mulligan
- Eurofins Botanical Testing, US, Inc., Brea, California, USA
| | - Yucheng Zhou
- Eurofins Botanical Testing, US, Inc., Brea, California, USA
| | | | | | - Bo-Kai Chen
- Department of Nutrition, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chin-Kun Wang
- Department of Nutrition, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Li-Shu Wang
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Athena Dong
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | | | | | - Andrea Wong
- Council for Responsible Nutrition, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Taylor C Wallace
- Think Healthy Group, LLC, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
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12
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The phytoequivalence of herbal extracts: A critical evaluation. Fitoterapia 2022; 162:105262. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2022.105262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Yamamoto M. KAMPOmics: A framework for multidisciplinary and comprehensive research on Japanese traditional medicine. Gene X 2022; 831:146555. [PMID: 35569769 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditional Japanese medicines, known as "Kampo medicines", are pharmaceutical-grade multi-herbal treatments that are integrated within the modern medical system in Japan. Although basic and clinical research including placebo-controlled double-blind trials is attempting to clarify their effectiveness and mechanisms of action, such studies are seriously limited due to the multi-targeted, multi-component "long-tail" properties of Kampo medicines, which are fundamentally different from modern western therapeutics. However, recent progress in high-throughput analytical technology, coupled with an exponential increase in biomedical information on various levels from molecular biology to clinical "big" data, is enabling us to commence a multidisciplinary and comprehensive investigation of Kampo medicines based on multi-omics, bio-informatics, and systems biology. In addition to deriving an inclusive understanding of the benefits and mechanisms of Kampo medicines, "KAMPOmics" may lead to the development of new principles to control and treat diseases in a systems-oriented manner. Furthermore, elucidation of "sho" and "mibyo" - classical concepts of Kampo, which loosely approximate to the notions of "precise medicine" and "pre-symptomatic aberration", respectively - may contribute to the development of patient-oriented medicine, an area attracting enormous growth and interest in contemporary medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masahiro Yamamoto
- Tsumura Research Laboratories, Tsumura & Co., Yoshiwara 3586, Ami, Inashiki, Ibaraki 300-1192, Japan.
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Wu HY, Shaw PC. Strategies for molecular authentication of herbal products: from experimental design to data analysis. Chin Med 2022; 17:38. [PMID: 35317843 PMCID: PMC8939074 DOI: 10.1186/s13020-022-00590-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular herbal authentication has gained worldwide popularity in the past decade. DNA-based methods, including DNA barcoding and species-specific amplification, have been adopted for herbal identification by various pharmacopoeias. Development of next-generating sequencing (NGS) drastically increased the throughput of sequencing process and has sped up sequence collection and assembly of organelle genomes, making more and more reference sequences/genomes available. NGS allows simultaneous sequencing of multiple reads, opening up the opportunity of identifying multiple species from one sample in one go. Two major experimental approaches have been applied in recent publications of identification of herbal products by NGS, the PCR-dependent DNA metabarcoding and PCR-free genome skimming/shotgun metagenomics. This review provides a brief introduction of the use of DNA metabarcoding and genome skimming/shotgun metagenomics in authentication of herbal products and discusses some important considerations in experimental design for botanical identification by NGS, with a specific focus on quality control, reference sequence database and different taxon assignment programs. The potential of quantification or abundance estimation by NGS is discussed and new scientific findings that could potentially interfere with accurate taxon assignment and/or quantification is presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hoi-Yan Wu
- Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin R & D Centre for Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Pang-Chui Shaw
- Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin R & D Centre for Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China. .,School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China. .,State Key Laboratory of Research on Bioactivities and Clinical Applications of Medicinal Plants (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Institute of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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