ArticleBMC medicine2013
DNA barcoding detects contamination and substitution in North American herbal products.
Article in BMC medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It has been retracted, and should not be counted. Cited by 169 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
169 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of the Effect of Dietary Supplements on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults and Military Personnel.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Disclosure of complementary medicine use to medical providers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2019Pooled it
- Identification of herbal medicine species of Lysimachia L. (Primulaceae) in Southern China using genome skimming.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Integrated microscopic, HPTLC, and HRM analyses for differentiating Centella asiatica (L.) Urb., Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst, and Hydrocotyle umbellata L.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Barcoding and traditional health practitioner perspectives are informative to monitor and conserve frogs and reptiles traded for traditional medicine in urban South Africa.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Rapid authentication of endangeredFrontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Flower Species Ingredient Verification Using Orthogonal Molecular Methods.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Chemical fingerprinting and multicomponent quantitative analysis for quality control ofHeliyon · 2024Article
- Analysis of Whole-Genome as a Novel Strategy for Animal Species Identification.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Comprehensive analysis using DNA metabarcoding, SCAR marker based PCR assay, and HPLC unveils the adulteration in Brahmi herbal products.Molecular biology reports · 2023Article
- Quality Control and Authentication of Black Betel Leaf Extract (Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Integrative Oncology and the Clinical Care Network: Challenges and Opportunities.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Labeling compliance and online claims for Ayurvedic herbal supplements on the U.S. market associated with the purported treatment of COVID-19.Food control · 2023Article
- Everyday Evaluation of Herb/Dietary Supplement-Drug Interaction: A Pilot Study.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A combined approach of DNA metabarcoding collectively enhances the detection efficiency of medicinal plants in single and polyherbal formulations.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Distinguishing features ofFrontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Molecular barcoding of Melissa officinalis L. (badranjboye) in Iran and identification of adulteration in its medicinal services.BMC plant biology · 2022Article
- DNA barcoding: an efficient technology to authenticate plant species of traditional Chinese medicine and recent advances.Chinese medicine · 2022Review
- Molecular Phylogeny, DNA Barcoding, andGenes · 2022Article
- Protective manifestation of herbonanoceuticals as antifungals: A possible drug candidate for dermatophytic infection.Health science reports · 2022Article
109 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Retraction · 2024-07-04Falsification/Fabrication of Data · Investigation by Company/Institution · Objections by Author(s) · Upgrade/Update of Prior Notice(s) ·
- Expression of concern · 2022-02-18Concerns/Issues about Data · Updated to Retraction ·
- Retracted
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHerbal products available to consumers in the marketplace may be contaminated or substituted with alternative plant species and fillers that are not listed on the labels. According to the World Health Organization, the adulteration of herbal products is a threat to consumer safety. Our research aimed to investigate herbal product integrity and authenticity with the goal of protecting consumers from health risks associated with product substitution and contamination.
methodsWe used DNA barcoding to conduct a blind test of the authenticity for (i) 44 herbal products representing 12 companies and 30 different species of herbs, and (ii) 50 leaf samples collected from 42 herbal species. Our laboratory also assembled the first standard reference material (SRM) herbal barcode library from 100 herbal species of known provenance that were used to identify the unknown herbal products and leaf samples.
resultsWe recovered DNA barcodes from most herbal products (91%) and all leaf samples (100%), with 95% species resolution using a tiered approach (rbcL + ITS2). Most (59%) of the products tested contained DNA barcodes from plant species not listed on the labels. Although we were able to authenticate almost half (48%) of the products, one-third of these also contained contaminants and or fillers not listed on the label. Product substitution occurred in 30/44 of the products tested and only 2/12 companies had products without any substitution, contamination or fillers. Some of the contaminants we found pose serious health risks to consumers.
conclusionsMost of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers. These activities dilute the effectiveness of otherwise useful remedies, lowering the perceived value of all related products because of a lack of consumer confidence in them. We suggest that the herbal industry should embrace DNA barcoding for authenticating herbal products through testing of raw materials used in manufacturing products. The use of an SRM DNA herbal barcode library for testing bulk materials could provide a method for 'best practices? in the manufacturing of herbal products. This would provide consumers with safe, high quality herbal products.
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