The occurrence of acetaminophen/codeine as an adulterant in herbal analgesic supplements in Hamadan, Iran: A pilot study

• Published in: Complementary therapies in medicine Vol. 42; pp. 223 - 225
• Main Authors: Nili-Ahmadabadi, Amir, Borzouee, Zahra, Ahmadimoghaddam, Davoud, Firozian, Farzin, Dastan, Dara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2019; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acetaminophen; Analgesics; Codeine; Dietary supplements; Drug dosages; Drugs; Herbal medicine; Herbal supplements; Herbs; High performance liquid chromatography; HPLC; Liquid chromatography; Medicinal herbs; Medicinal plants; Narcotics; Side effects; Iran; Analgesics; Acetaminophen; Herbal supplements; HPLC; Codeine
• ISSN: 0965-2299; 1873-6963
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.11.018

•Analgesics are used to adulterate medicinal herbs and/or herbal supplements.•The presence of synthetic drugs such as acetaminophen/codeine are illegal in herbal medicines.•The results showed that 15% of the medicinal herbs contained acetaminophen/codeine. Analgesics, such as acetaminophen (APAP) and codeine (COD), are used to adulterate medicinal herbs and/or herbal supplements. This study evaluated the APAP and COD levels in 60 herbal supplement and/or herb-based medicine samples collected from apothecaries in Hamadan, Iran. The samples were analysed using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. The results showed that 15% of the samples contained 38900–165200 ng/g and 31.1–603.3 ng/g of APAP and COD, respectively. Due to the side-effects of analgesic drugs in human, control of these drugs is recommended in herbal supplements.