Identification and Quantification Methodology for the Analysis of Suspected Illegal Dietary Supplements: Reference Standard or no Reference Standard, that the Question

Celine Vanhee^1*, Emmy Tuenter², Angelique Kamugisha¹, Michael Canfyn¹, Goedele Moens¹, Patricia Courselle¹, Luc Pieters², Eric Deconinck^1# and Vasiliki Exarchou^2#

¹Division of food, medicines and consumer safety, section medicinal products, Scientific Institute of Public Health (WIV-ISP), Belgium

²Natural Products & Food Research and Analysis (NatuRA), Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

^#The two authors are equally contributing

*Corresponding Author : Celine Vanhee
Division of food, medicines and consumer safety, section medicinal products, Scientific Institute of Public Health (WIV-ISP), J.Wytsmansstraat14, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
E-mail: celine.vanhee@wiv-isp.be

Received: August 02, 2017 Accepted: April 13, 2018 Published: April 20, 2018

Citation: Vanhee C, Tuenter E, Kamugisha A, Canfyn M, Moens G, et al.(2018) Identification and Quantification Methodology for the Analysis of Suspected Illegal Dietary Supplements: Reference Standard or no Reference Standard, that’s the Question. J Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9841.1000156

The consumption of food supplements has become a billion dollar business that has proliferated across the globe. Consequently this also resulted in the increase of adulterations by the illegal addition of medicinal substances or their analogues. The vast majority of the pharmaceutical substances encountered in those samples belong to the three ‘classical’ categories, including sexual enhancers (e.g. PDE-5 inhibitors and flibanserine), weight loss enhancers occasionally accompanied with an anti-depressant (e.g. sibutramine, phenolphthalein, sibutramine and fluoxetine or venlafaxine) and sports performance enhancers (e.g. selective androgen receptors (SARMs) and anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS)). Recently also chemicals belonging to the class of pharmaceutical cognition enhancers or nootropics are gaining popularity amongst the general public. While for many of the classical categories reference standards are available to unambiguously confirm the identity of a pharmaceutical product, for several molecules, including some nootropics, no certified reference material is available. Hereby, with the example of an adrafinil containing food supplements, we show how, by utilising multiple methodologies, we were able to come to identification and subsequent quantification when no certified reference standard was available. Furthermore, in 2017 already several food supplements analysed by our lab were positive for the presence of nootropic substances, indicating that these compounds are really gaining popularity amongst the general public.