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Mass spectrometric analysis of pharmaceutical adulterants in products labeled as botanical dietary supplements or herbal remedies: a review

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Abstract

The increased availability and use of botanical dietary supplements and herbal remedies among consumers has been accompanied by an increased frequency of adulteration of these products with synthetic pharmaceuticals. Unscrupulous producers may add drugs and analogues of various classes, such as phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, weight loss, hypoglycemic, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory agents, or anabolic steroids, to develop or intensify biological effects of dietary supplements or herbal remedies. The presence of such adulterated products in the marketplace is a worldwide problem and their consumption poses health risks to consumers. Analytical methods that allow rapid and reliable testing of dietary supplements for the presence of synthetic drugs are needed to address such fraudulent practices. Mass spectrometry (MS) and hyphenated techniques such as liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) have become primary tools in this endeavor. The present review critically assesses the role and summarizes the applications of MS in the analysis of pharmaceutical adulterants in botanical dietary supplements and herbal remedies. The uses of MS techniques in detection, confirmation, and quantification of known pharmaceutical adulterants as well as in screening for and structure elucidation of unexpected adulterants and novel designer drugs are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

L. V. acknowledges the support of an appointment to the Research Participation Program at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the US Department of Energy and the US Food and Drug Administration.

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  1. US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulatory Science, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, HFS-717, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Lukas Vaclavik, Alexander J. Krynitsky & Jeanne I. Rader

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  1. Lukas Vaclavik
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  2. Alexander J. Krynitsky
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  3. Jeanne I. Rader
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Correspondence to Lukas Vaclavik.

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Published in the topical collection Advanced Food Analysis with guest editors Michel W.F. Nielen, Jana Hajslova, and Rudolf Krska.

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Vaclavik, L., Krynitsky, A.J. & Rader, J.I. Mass spectrometric analysis of pharmaceutical adulterants in products labeled as botanical dietary supplements or herbal remedies: a review. Anal Bioanal Chem 406, 6767–6790 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8159-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8159-z

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