Description
The project is needed in order for PhytoAuthent addresses current ambiguity in the herbal food supplements market. The project will address, investigate and evaluate the safety concerns posed on consumers by a large group of food supplements, e.g. herbal food supplements and phyto-pharmaceutical products. PhytoAuthent will gather information, test, develop and apply, in real life case scenarios, innovative molecular methodologies for plant identification in herbal products. It will make use of methods including chemical analysis, DNA barcoding and metabarcoding by Next Generation Sequencing. The project is based on herbal industry needs, and aims to yield higher quality standards at equal or lower production costs. The donor partner will bring added value to the educational and research programs of the consortium partners. The partnership aims to increase consumers' confidence in using herbal food supplements and phyto-pharmaceutical products.
Summary of project results
Many herbal product have a long history of use. There are increasing concerns over product efficacy, safety and quality in the wake of recent cases exposing discrepancies between labeling and constituents. PhytoAuthent project addressed this current ambiguity in the marketed herbal products by investigating and evaluating the safety and quality concerns posed to consumers by a large range of herbal products. A broad range ofanalytical methods have been used, including conventional phytochemical analysis, such as TLC, HPTLC, HPLC-MS, together with new analytical methods such us DNA barcoding and DNA metabarcoding via High Throughput Sequencing (HTS). The project was based on herbal industry needs and aimed to yield higher quality standards at equal or lower production costs. The donor partner brought added value to the educational and research programs of the consortium partners. All these objectives were achieved entirely. The results were jointly published in peer-reviewed journals with signifiant impact factor, such as Nature/Scientific Reports (IF 5.228), Frontiers in Pharmacology/section Ethnopharmacology (IF 4.418), Drug Safety (IF 3.43) Phytochemical Analysis (IF 2.29), Phytomedicine (IF 3.53, under review), and disseminated through the participation of the consortium researchers at prestigious national and international scientific conferences, and through the project web site and various advertising materials. The activities addressed the safety and quality issues related to the marketed herbal products. Five wild or cultivated species, well known for their particular terapeutical potential, were studied (Hypericum perforatum, Veronica officinalis, Dacthylorhiza maculata, Echinacea sp. and Gentiana lutea). The evaluation of the fesability and efficacy of using DNA barcoding and DNA metabarcoding as new analytical methods of authentication of herbal food supplements, and the comparion with the standard identification analytical approaches (e.g., HPLC-MS, TLC, HPTLC) as recommended by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the European Pharmacopoeia. Outcomes: Evaluate the time, cost and accuracy of different authentication methods, with the goal of identifying and promoting the most effective analytical method; Development of DNA barcoding protocol for the identification of species and substitutes for the selected plant cases; Provide a scientific methodological framework for decision-makers, food chain operators and herbalists.
Summary of bilateral results
The consortium has evaluated the time, cost and accuracy of different plant authentication methods for plant identification within the marketed herbal products, with the objective of identifying and promoting the overall most effective analytical method for this purpose. The research and development opportunities were further expanded (contracting or becoming partners in other projects on food safety and security). In terms of wider effects, the project encouraged cooperation, complementarity and synergy and it enhances the Partnerships’ impact on youth related policies and activities in Europe and beyond. All the objectives and goals of this project required an international and multidisciplinary approach and they ware achieved only due to collaboration of specialists from different countries and with complementary research backround expertise. Project's partnership has added value to the educational and research programs of the institutions involved and their institutional partners, promoting cooperation, complementarity and synergy, and increased the partnership's impact on policies and youth activities within Europe and beyond. The participation of multiple organizations has increassed the synergy, complementarity and innovation in our research field. Some of the partners (INDCSB and PLV, INDCSB and UMFCJ) have also successfully collaborated in previous other projects.The partnership aimed to increase consumer’s confidence in using herbal food supplements and phyto-pharmaceutical products. Overall, our project has been conducted in a truly integrative and interdisciplinary manner, with the goal of developing new approaches and methods with wide applicability for planners and decision-makers. Proposed multidisciplinarity has been achieved through the integration of different specialities into the project.