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A health risk for consumers: the presence of adulterated food supplements in the Netherlands
- Source :
- Food Additives and Contaminants-Part A Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure and Risk Assessment 36 (2019) 9, Food Additives and Contaminants-Part A Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure and Risk Assessment, 36(9), 1273-1288
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2019.
-
Abstract
- The use of food supplements is increasing. They are marketed as beneficial for health, well-being, physical or mental condition and performance, or to prevent diseases. Producers add synthetic compounds or illicit herbal material to food supplements to claim desired effects. Claims made to support marketing without scientific evidence are, however, illegal. Intake of adulterated food supplements may lead to serious adverse effects. The aim of this paper is to report the results of analyses of (adulterated) food supplements conducted by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority between October 2013 and October 2018. In total, 416 supplements were analysed of which 264 (64%) contained one or more pharmacological active substances or plant toxins, such as caffeine, synephrine, sildenafil, icariin, sibutramine, higenamine, hordenine, phenethylamine, methylsynephrine, DMAA, phenolphthalein, octopamine and ephedrine. When compared to dose levels that are considered safe, daily doses of the substances in the food supplements were sometimes much higher, causing a risk for consumers who are unaware of the presence of these pharmacologically active substances. In many cases, neither food nor medicines legislation (easily) enables enforcement actions. This means that some products containing pharmacologically active substances (i.e. synthetic medicines and their illicit analogues), stay available on the market. An undesirable situation because for many of these substances no detailed toxicity data are available.
- Subjects :
- Pharmaceutical drug
Consumer Product Safety
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
medicine.medical_treatment
Food supplement
BU Contaminanten & Toxines
Poison control
Food Contamination
enforcement
Toxicology
Risk Assessment
030226 pharmacology & pharmacy
01 natural sciences
pharmaceutical drug
BU Contaminants & Toxins
03 medical and health sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
0302 clinical medicine
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Environmental health
Humans
Medicine
Adverse effect
adulterants
Netherlands
Toxins, Biological
business.industry
Hordenine
010401 analytical chemistry
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
regulation
General Chemistry
General Medicine
Octopamine (drug)
Food safety
0104 chemical sciences
food safety
Pharmaceutical Preparations
chemistry
dietary supplement
Dietary Supplements
business
Food Analysis
Chromatography, Liquid
Food Science
Sibutramine
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19440057 and 19440049
- Volume :
- 36
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0e336edb7e7ba7b3136511c99345fe34