KNOW YOUR MEDICINES

Traditional herbal medicines are gaining popularity worldwide as an alternative approach to prescription drugs for many reasons including a general perception that they are safe. There is a growing trend where herbal medicines, dietary supplements and conventional foods are adulterated with hidden drugs and chemicals. Recently there have been number of reported studies that reveal adulteration of slimming herbal medicines with undeclared synthetic drugs, which may potentially cause serious toxic adverse effects. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers to stop using multiple weight-loss products that contain the undeclared drug ingredients e.g. sibutramine. In case of these herbal medicines, the adulterated chemicals are obviously not shown in the list of ingredients. Hence the severity is many folded as neither physicians nor the pharmacists are aware of those undeclared chemicals, for any advice, causing serious risk to the public health. It also reviews the various classes of synthetic drugs that were found to be adulterated in herbal slimming medicines. The focus is to highlight newer analytical tools used to detect adulteration.

Autorentext

Dr. Mohammad Kamil - Director Geral do Instituto Holístico Lotus, Abu Dhabi. Activamente empenhado na investigação sobre Plantas Medicinais/Medicina Herbácea. Liderou a Investigação em Medicina Tradicional Complementar e Alternativa no Complexo Zayed para a Investigação de Plantas e Medicina Tradicional. O seu trabalho de investigação é amplamente citado em livros e revistas internacionais.