Planta Med 2013; 79 - PH5
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1348595

Botanical Product Integrity Dossiers: A Comprehensive Approach to Ensure Reproducibility in Botanical Dietary Supplements Research

RS Phansalkar 1, C Simmler 1, T Jones 1, JR Anderson 1, SH Dong 1, DD Soejarto 1, GF Pauli 1, SN Chen 1
  • 1UIC/NIH Botanical Center, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA

The use of herbal medicines and dietary supplements (DS) in alleviating health symptoms has become popular worldwide, as reflected by the increased number of publications on the subject.1 In the United States in 2006, almost 50% of adults used dietary supplements with an uptrend percentage.2 However, reports on apparently “identical” botanical materials (plants, extracts) frequently show different or contradicting results, especially regarding the interpretation of observed biological activities. In addition to natural variation, one potential cause for confusion can be the (lack of) verification of the identity and exact nature of botanical materials. In order to enhance the reproducibility of research on the same botanical species, in 2011 NCCAM/NIH released an advanced Natural Product Integrity policy. Following this guideline, our UIC/NIH Botanical Center has established botanical product integrity dossiers (BPIDs), that thoroughly document integrity parameters of each investigated botanical. These BPIDs include several verification steps: morphological evaluation, genetic authentication by DNA barcoding, and chemical verification including UHPLC and 1D/2D NMR fingerprinting. Examples of metabolomic and DNA fingerprinting applied to the authentication of both Glycyrrhiza sp. and Dioscorea sp. will be given.

Ref.: (1) Pubmed, keyword: dietary supplements, (2) Gahche, J. et al. NCHS data brief, 2011