AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While reports confirming the adulteration of specific botanicals are published on a regular basis, reliable data regarding the extent of the adulteration in botanical dietary supplements and herbal medicines are lacking. The nonprofit ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) therefore initiated a systematic review of publicly available information on the authenticity of five popular botanicals,1 and preparations made from them, in the United States and international markets.
The herbs discussed in the report are black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) rhizome, echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia, E. pallida, and E. purpurea) herb and/or root, elder (Sambucus nigra) berry, ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) leaf, and turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizome.
The new BAPP article, “Estimating the extent of adulteration of the popular herbs black cohosh, echinacea, elder berry, ginkgo, and turmeric – its challenges and limitations”, published in the highly regarded peer-reviewed journal Natural Products Reports, was authored by Nilüfer Orhan, PhD, an expert in natural products pharmacology, chemistry and analysis; ABC Chief Science Officer and BAPP Director Stefan Gafner, PhD; and Mark Blumenthal, Founder & Executive Director of the American Botanical Council and Founder of BAPP.
“Adulteration and fraud are unfortunate facts of commerce,” said Blumenthal. “The question is to what extent does it affect the current market for herbal dietary supplements and related natural plant- and fungal-based ingredients?
“Our paper demonstrates that estimating the extent of adulteration using published data is a very challenging and imperfect process, and the results cannot be deemed to be definitive,” he added. “They must be viewed within the context of creating a process with inadequate data.”
The paper points to the many challenges and limitations in determining the accurate number of adulterated products in a specific market. For example, results from comprehensive testing/analyzing of all products sold in a geographic region are not available, criteria of what exactly represents adulteration vary from author to author, and some of the laboratory analytical methods used to determine the presence of adulteration may not be fit for purpose. Due to the lack of information provided in many of the publications, an independent assessment of the accuracy of the findings in the publications is not possible.
“The numbers obtained for the extent of adulteration of the five botanicals investigated for this systematic review may not be representative for the overall adulteration rate in the global herbal dietary and food supplement industry, but it is clear that adulteration of botanical ingredients is a problem and impacts a substantial portion of products sold as dietary or food supplements, noted ABC’s Gafner.
The new BAPP review included a total of 77 publications and 2995 samples across the five botanicals. Ginkgo leaf extract samples (n = 533) had the highest estimated adulteration rate with 56.7%, followed by powdered plant materials or extracts of black cohosh root/rhizome (n = 322) with 42.2%, echinacea root/herb (n = 200) with 28.5%, elder berry* (n = 695) with 17.1%, and turmeric rhizome (n = 1247) with 16.5%.
Products sold as licensed or registered herbal medicines, as is the case in many European countries, were all found to be authentic. i.e., not adulterated, contrary to products sold as dietary or food supplements. “It warrants mention that not a single product sold as a licensed or registered herbal medicine in the European market was found to be adulterated,” said Gafner.
Both Gafner and Blumenthal emphasized that there are many responsible companies that produce and market authentic, properly produced and labeled, safe and reliable botanical ingredients and herbal products, and that many of these companies support BAPP’s nonprofit efforts to provide peer-reviewed scientific research to help educate responsible members of the global industry.
The paper was reviewed by nine botanical experts prior to being submitted to the journal, where it underwent the journal’s further formal peer review. The pre-peer review process conducted by BAPP included seven experts from the botanical industry, herb and dietary supplement trade organizations, and non-profit educational organizations, and two industry consultants.
The new paper comes after almost 13 years of research, writing, and editing of extensively peer-reviewed publications by BAPP on various popular botanical ingredients sold in the United States and international markets. BAPP publications confirm that almost 30 (thus far) of these botanicals are subject to adulteration. While some adulteration might be accidental, in most cases the evidence confirms intentional adulteration and fraud, what is often referred to by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and regulatory, academic and industry groups as economically motivated adulteration (EMA).
EMA is usually defined as the fraudulent addition of non-authentic substances or removal or replacement of authentic substances without the purchaser's knowledge for economic gain of the seller. EMA is not a new problem, as evidenced in the very first publication published by BAPP documenting the history of adulteration of herbs, spices, and botanical drugs going back to Greco-Roman times, over 2000 years ago.2
The new article on the estimated extent of adulteration of the five popular herbs is the 90th peer-reviewed publication published by BAPP to date, all of which are available for free access through the BAPP website. Registration on the site is required to access the articles.
*Elder berry, frequently written elderberry, usually refers to the fruit of European elder berry, aka black elder berry.
References
- Orhan N, Gafner S, Blumenthal M. Estimating the extent of adulteration of the popular herbs black cohosh, echinacea, elder berry, ginkgo, and turmeric – its challenges and limitations. Nat Prod Rep. 2024; doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NP00014E
- Foster S. A brief history of adulteration of herbs, spices, and botanical drugs. HerbalGram 2011;92:42-57.
About the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program
The ABC (American Botanical Council)-AHP (American Herbal Pharmacopoeia)-NCNPR (National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi) Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) is an international consortium of nonprofit professional organizations, analytical laboratories, research centers, industry trade associations, industry members, and other parties with interest in herbs and medicinal plants. BAPP advises industry, researchers, health professionals, government agencies, the media, and the public about the various challenges related to authentication of botanical ingredients and how to avoid purchasing adulterated and fraudulent botanical ingredients sold in international commerce. To date, BAPP has published 90 peer-reviewed documents with overall more than 200 US and international parties that have financially supported or otherwise endorsed BAPP.
