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.