Assessing the effect of pharmaceutical excipients on the DNA extraction from plant food supplements
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This work was supported by the projects EXPL/DTP-SAP/1438/2013 (4SaferPFS)
and Pest-C/EQB/LA0006/2013 financed by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) (FEDER funds
through COMPETE). Teimo J.R. Fernandes is grateful to FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/93711/2013) financed
by POPH-QREN (subsidised by FSE and MCTES).
in the EU market as ingredients in formulations, which are sold as plant food supplements
(PFS). Among the several issues that may affect the safety of PFS, the most relevant
concerns aduÍterations by the illegal addition of pharmaceutical drugs and/or the swap/
misidentification ofplant material, with cases of acate toxicity already reported [l]. Owing
to the high similarity and distinct therapeutic uses ofseveral medicinal plants, accurate and
fast methodologies allowing their distincüon are required. For that purpose, DNA-based
methods are considered fast, sensitive and highly specific tools, allowing the unequivocal
identification of plant species. Up to date, most of DNA methodologies reporting the
identification of plant species essentially concern medicinal plants [2], with few works
being developed for the authentication of PFS.
