Screening of food supplements for toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids
- PDF / 723,092 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 58 Downloads / 199 Views
Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety Journal fu¨r Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Screening of food supplements for toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids Florian Kaltner1 · Verena Kukula1 · Christoph Gottschalk1 Received: 4 June 2020 / Revised: 16 July 2020 / Accepted: 23 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) and PA-N-oxides (PANO) are a group of more than 660 secondary plant metabolites with hepatotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects in animals and humans. The phytotoxins can enter the food chain by transfer of PA/PANO between plants via the soil, unintended co-harvesting of PA/PANO-producing weeds, as well as by honeybees collecting pollen and nectar of these plants. Thus, bee- and plant-based products, e.g. (herbal) teas, spices and culinary herbs were identified to be a main source of consumers’ exposure to PA/PANO. Consequently, food supplements based on those ingredients may as well be contaminated with PA/PANO, but so far there are only very few studies available on this topic. Therefore, the current study investigated 50 herbal and bee product-based food supplements available in German retail pharmacies, drugstores, and online on the occurrence of 44 PA/PANO. In total, 19 samples contained PA/PANO with sum contents ranging from 0.1 to 105.1 ng/g in solid samples and from 0.03 to 2.20 ng/mL in liquid preparations. Considering the recommended daily consumption, the sum contents were of no or little concern for the health risk of adults, whereas in case of children the contents of singular samples could significantly contribute to the overall PA/PANO exposure. Keywords Pyrrolizidine alkaloids · Food safety · Food supplements · Natural products · Preventive health care
1 Introduction Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) and PA-N-oxides (PANO) are a group of more than 660 secondary plant metabolites occurring in more than 6000 plant species worldwide. The main producers are plants of the families Asteraceae (Senecioneae, Eupatorieae), Apocynaceae (Echiteae), Boraginaceae, and Fabaceae (genus Crotalaria) (Boppré 2011; Mattocks 1986; Smith and Culvenor 1981). PA/PANO consist of a 1-hydroxymethyl-7-hydroxypyrrolizidine core structure (necine base) esterified to one or two necic acid side chains (Fig. 1). According to their chemical structure, PA/PANO can be further sub-grouped in monoesters, diesters, or cyclic diesters. While cyclic diesters are typically formed by the genera Senecio (Asteraceae), monoesters and open-chained diesters can predominantly be found in genera of Boraginaceae (Hartmann and Witte 1995).
* Florian Kaltner [email protected] 1
Chair of Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Schoenleutnerstr. 8, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany
Only the 1,2-dehydro-PA/PANO show toxic activities in wildlife, cattle and humans. After intake they can be metabolised to highly reactive pyrrolic esters, which can build adducts with DNA or cellular proteins (Fu et al. 2004). In the past years a
Data Loading...
