Microscopic Authentication of Commercial Herbal Products in the Globalized Market: Potential and Limitations.

ABSTRACT: Herbal products are marketed and used around the globe for their claimed or expected health benefits, but their increasing demand has resulted in a proportionally increase of their accidental contamination or intentional adulteration, as already confirmed with DNA-based methods. Microscopy is a traditional pharmacopoeial method used for plant identification and we systematically searched for peer-reviewed publications to document its potential and limitations to authenticate herbal medicines and food supplements commercially available on the global market. The overall authenticity of 508 microscopically authenticated herbal products, sold in 13 countries, was 59%, while the rest of 41% were found to be adulterated. This problem was extending over all continents. At the national level, ther

SUBMITTER: Ichim MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7295937 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature