CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONAL HAND-MADE HERBAL SLIMMING PRODUCTS FOR THE DETECTION OF HIDDEN DRUGS

Background and Aim : Background: Obesity is one of the health issues all over the world. Patients always demand for convenient and fast methods for weight reduction. Herbal drugs and natural health products were believed as safe drugs because they are natural . However, illegal compounds, such as anti-obesity drugs, designer analogues, and natural weight- loss ingredients have been detected in these supplements. Hand-made herbal drugs are advertised by herbal practitioners to gain this goal. Unscrupulous manufacturers produce herbal products that are adulterated with hidden legal or illegal drugs to lose weight in a shorter period of time. The main purpose of the present study was to analyse hand-made herbal slimming drugs to detect undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients.Methods : Methods: Forty hand-made herbal products that are sold as weight loss aid were prepared from 270 herb shops in Gilan province, Iran in a six month period. All samples were analysed using UHPLC and GC/MS instrumentations. Results : Results: Results showed that 25% of collected herbal preparations contained caffeine. Moreover an unlabeled herbal tablet contained metformin.Conclusion : Conclusion: Herbal slimming products in Gilan province were not adulterated as much as herbal drugs collected from other provinces in Iran. However adulteration practice can endanger the healthor safety of consumers.

کلیدواژه ها:

Hand-made herbal drugs ، Slimming products ، Adulteration practice ، Analytical toxicology