Diabetes Herbal Medicines and Dietary Supplements: adulteration and health related risks

Abstract

Mohammad Kamil

The current study aims to examine the problem of adulteration of herbal antidiabetic medicines with undeclared registered and banned pharmaceuticals. There is a growing trend where herbal medicines, dietary supplements and conventional foods are adulterated with hidden drugs and chemicals. These products are typically promoted for weight loss, lowering blood glucose, sexual enhancement and bodybuilding and are often represented as being “Natural.” Consumers should exercise caution before purchasing any product in the above categories. The FDA has taken the unprecedented step of warning diabetics not to purchase or use so-called “natural” diabetes treatments. In their most recent consumer bulletin, “Beware of Illegally Sold Diabetes Treatments,” the FDA asks diabetics to be on their guard when it comes to buying natural diabetic treatments online. Fraudulent diabetes products can be especially dangerous if we use them instead of proven treatments for diabetes. Without proper disease management, people with diabetes are at greater risk of developing serious complications. Undeclared ingredients can cause serious harm. If consumers and their health care professionals are unaware of the actual ingredients in the products they are taking, these products may interact in dangerous ways with other medications. Zayed Complex for Herbal Research & Traditional Medicine (ZCHRTM) lab. Department of Health (DOH) Abu Dhabi has identified an emerging trend where over-the-counter herbal products, frequently represented as dietary supplements, contain hidden active ingredients that could be harmful. Consumers may unknowingly take products laced with varying quantities of approved prescription drug ingredients, controlled substances, and untested and unstudied pharmaceutically active ingredients. ZCHRTM Research laboratory purchased diabetes samples from market as well as samples received from DOH, MOHAP and other government organizations, VIP’s and various other sources, revealed the presence of adulteration in many herbal medicinal products. These findings of ZCHRTM laboratory will help consumers, health care practitioners, and the public understands our action regarding diabetes products contaminated with various prescription drugs and chemicals. In continuation of our earlier studies, the main objective of the present study is to check pharmaceutical medicine adulteration of nonprescription and even prescription diabetes medicines in the laboratory using chromatographic and spectrometric techniques and to discuss its side effects in the best interest of consumers and public health safety (Chart -1). This paper also gives an overview of health-related risks after consuming such spurious products and challenges for future perspectives to control such type of malpractices [1-3].

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