Herbal slimming products are one of the most wide spreading herbal products in many countries around the world and in Syria as well, they are often advertised to contain purely natural ingredients. These products are provided by various sources and t
hey are available over the counter, therefore, in most cases, they are not under quality control. Such these quality-uncontrolled products are considered a health and economic issue facing many countries in the world especially undeveloped countries which usually lack for regulation rules governing herbal products trading. In this study, 20 samples have been collected from the herbal slimming products available in the local market. At the beginning, these samples have been divided into locally manufactured samples (8 samples) and illegal samples (12 samples). The packaging and labeling test has been applied to all samples. Later on, these samples have been tested with TLC and HPLC to make sure they are free of Sibutramine, using in TLC Methanol/Toluene (1:9) as a mobile phase, and in HPLC Acetonitrile/phosphate buffer pH=5.5 (70:30) as a mobile phase, column BDS Hypersil C18, flow rate 0.5 ml/min and wavelength 225nm. The results of packaging and labeling test revealed that all of the locally manufactured samples are matching to the American pharmacopoeia USP30 and GMP in terms of packaging, labeling and internal leaf sheets with exception for one sample. As for illegal samples, all of them matched the pharmacopoeia and GMP with exception for 6 samples. With regards to testing the samples using TLC and HPLC, results indicated that 3 samples out of 8 locally manufactured samples contained Sibutramine with amount ranging between (8- 10) mg/capsule, while all illegal samples contained Sibutramine with amount ranging between (5-26) mg/capsule.
A set of 72 samples were formalized by mixing pure olive oil with vegetable
oils: Corn, Soya bean, Sunflower, cotton by percentages of 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40
percet respectively. Specific extinction at wavelengths 232nm, 266nm, 270nm
and 274nm were
measured for three replicates of each sample by using
Spectroscopy technique in ultra violet range, ΔK value (alterative of variation of
the specific extinction at the wavelength of maximum absorption near 270 nm)
and R value (EB270nm / EB232nm) were calculated.
The results showed the possibility of using ΔK value to detect the
adulteration of Olive oil up to 6.5 ±0.004%, 4.4 ±0.004 %, 0.8 ±0.006% and
0.08±0.005% for Soya bean, Corn, Sunflower and cotton oil, respectively. While
these values at 270 nm were 5±0.048%, 5.8 ±0.048%, 1.1±0.077% and
2.6±0.053% in the same arrangement. The absorption value at wavelength
232nm did not show any sign in detecting the adulteration. According to R
value, the minimum detected percentages of adulteration were 20 and 10 for
Corn and Soya been oil, Cotton and Sunflower oil subsequently .
We recommend to use ΔK to detect the adulteration of Olive oil mixed with
low percentages of vegetable oil.
