加拿大科學家用DNA檢測的方法發現市場上絕大部分草藥製品裏麵都是米粉或者麵粉等廉價貨,根本不含草藥.
論文發表在: The findings, published in the journal BMC Medicine
草藥營養品往往名不副實
Herbal Supplements Are Often Not What They Seem
來源: http://www.blogbus.com/med1-logs/237417267.html
Americans spend an estimated $5 billion a year on unproven herbal supplements that promise everything from fighting off colds to curbing hot flashes and boosting memory. But now there is a new reason for supplement buyers to beware: DNA tests show that many pills labeled as healing herbs are little more than powdered rice and weeds.
預計美國人每年要花50億美元，用於購買療效未獲證實的草藥補劑，這些補劑號稱能醫治百病，從治療感冒到抑製潮熱症再到提高記憶力，不一而足。可是現在出現了一個新的消費者應警惕草藥製劑的原因：DNA測試表明，很多標明有治愈能力的草本植物藥物，其實所含的無外乎是米粉和雜草罷了。
Using a test called DNA barcoding, a kind of genetic fingerprinting that has also been used to help uncover labeling fraud in the commercial seafood industry, Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of popular supplements sold by 12 companies. They found that many were not what they claimed to be, and that pills labeled as popular herbs were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by cheap fillers like soybean, wheat and rice.
加拿大的研究人員使用了一種叫DNA條形碼的測試方法，這種基因指紋鑒別法也曾用來揭露海產品銷售業的標識欺詐問題。他們測試了由12家公司經銷的44瓶暢銷補藥，結果發現其中很多名不符實，而且標簽上注明的那些受歡迎的草藥常常經過了像大豆、小麥和大米粉這類廉價填充物的稀釋，甚至完全被取而代之。
Consumer advocates and scientists say the research provides more evidence that the herbal supplement industry is riddled with questionable practices. Industry representatives argue that any problems are not widespread.
消費者保護團體和科學家們表示，該項研究提供了更充分的證據，證明在草藥補劑業充斥著種種可疑行徑。而業界代表則聲稱，這些問題都不是普遍現象。
For the study, the researchers selected popular medicinal herbs, and then randomly bought different brands of those products from stores and outlets in Canada and the United States. To avoid singling out any company, they did not disclose any product names.
在試驗中，研究人員先是選取了市麵上最流行的藥用植物，隨後在加拿大和美國的商店和專賣店購買了不同品牌的產品。為了避免針對個別公司，他們並未透露任何商品的名稱。
Among their findings were bottles of echinacea supplements, used by millions of Americans to prevent and treat colds, that contained ground up bitter weed, Parthenium hysterophorus, an invasive plant found in India and Australia that has been linked to rashes, nausea and flatulence.
上百萬美國人用紫錐菊補充劑來預防和治療感冒，而這項研究的其中一個發現，就是在幾瓶紫錐劑補劑中找到了碾碎的苦味植物銀膠菊，這是一種在印度和澳大利亞發現的入侵植物，目前已知和皮疹、惡心與腸胃脹氣有關。
Two bottles labeled as St. John’s wort, which studies have shown may treat mild depression, contained none of the medicinal herb. Instead, the pills in one bottle were made of nothing but rice, and another bottle contained only Alexandrian senna, an Egyptian yellow shrub that is a powerful laxative. Gingko biloba supplements, promoted as memory enhancers, were mixed with fillers and black walnut, a potentially deadly hazard for people with nut allergies.
聖約翰草是一種研究發現也許能治療輕微抑鬱的補劑，可兩瓶標注為聖約翰草的藥品當中都完全不含有這種藥草。相反，其中一瓶藥丸完全由大米製成，而另 一瓶所含的隻是亞曆山大塞納葉，這是一種生長在埃及的黃色灌木，有強力致瀉作用。商家號稱可提高記憶力的銀杏葉提取物，其中則混雜了填充物和黑核桃果實， 對於堅果過敏的人群來說，它有潛在致死的危險。
Of 44 herbal supplements tested, one-third showed outright substitution, meaning there was no trace of the plant advertised on the bottle — only another plant in its place.
在這44種受測試的草藥補劑中，有三分之一隻含有替代物，意味著根本找不到外包裝中標注含有的植物成份——而是用其他植物代替。
Many were adulterated with ingredients not listed on the label, like rice, soybean and wheat, which are used as fillers.
還有很多補劑中摻雜了標簽上並未列明的成份，比如用大米、大豆和小麥作為填充物。
In some cases, these fillers were the only plant detected in the bottle — a health concern for people with allergies or those seeking gluten-free products, said the study’s lead author, Steven G. Newmaster, a biology professor and botanical director of theBiodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph.
在某些情況下，這些填充物就是瓶子裏唯一能找到的植物——該研究第一作者、圭爾夫大學(University of Guelph)安大略生物多樣性研究所的生物學教授、植物學係主任斯蒂文·紐馬斯特(Steven G. Newmaster)說，對於過敏人群或者尋找無穀蛋白製品的人士來說，這構成了健康隱患。
The findings, published in the journal BMC Medicine, follow a number of smaller studies conducted in recent years that have suggested a sizable percentage of herbal products are not what they purport to be. But because the latest findings are backed by DNA testing, they offer perhaps the most credible evidence to date of adulteration, contamination and mislabeling in the medicinal supplement industry, a rapidly growing area of alternative medicinethat includes an estimated 29,000 herbal products and substances sold throughout North America.
在這項發表於《BMC醫學》(BMC Medicine)的研究之前，近年來還有多項小型研究已經表明，相當大比例的草藥製品成份與商品標簽並不相符。但由於這項新發現得到了DNA測試的支持，因此可提供迄今為止最可信的證據，證明藥品補劑業存在以次充好、交叉汙染和標簽使用不當等問題，藥品補劑業是替代醫學中一個迅速增長的領域，預計包括了2.9萬種在北美各地銷售的草藥產品和提取物。
“This suggests that the problems are widespread and that quality control for many companies, whether through ignorance, incompetence or dishonesty, is unacceptable,” said David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group. “Given these results, it’s hard to recommend any herbal supplements to consumers.”
這說明問題普遍存在，而且很多公司的品質控製問題——不管是由無知、無能還是無信造成——是我們完全不能接受的，”倡導團體“公共利益科學中心”(Center for Science in the Public Interest)的資深營養學家大衛·沙爾特(David Schardt)說：“看到這些研究結論，很難再向消費者推薦任何一種草藥補劑。”
Representatives of the supplement industry said that while mislabeling of supplements was a legitimate concern, they did not believe it reached the extent suggested by the new research.
補劑業界的代表則說，盡管補劑標簽不當是個合情合理的問題，但他們相信並沒有達到這項新研究所表明的廣泛程度。
Stefan Gafner, the chief science officer at the American Botanical Council, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of herbal supplements, said the study was flawed, in part because the bar-coding technology it used could not always identify herbs that have been purified and highly processed.
推廣草藥補劑使用的非營利機構美國植物委員會(American Botanical Council)首席科學官斯蒂芬·蓋夫納(Stefan Gafner)說，這項研究存在缺陷，部分原因是它使用的條形碼技術並不一定能識別出經過提純和高度壓縮處理的草藥。
“Over all, I would agree that quality control is an issue in the herbal industry,” Dr. Gafner said. “But I think that what’s represented here is overblown. I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks according to this study.”
總的來說，我同意品質控製是草藥業界目前存在的問題，”蓋夫納博士說，“但我認為在研究中描述的問題是言過其實的。我覺得情況不可能像研究顯示得那麽糟糕。”
The Food and Drug Administration has used bar-coding technology to warn and in some cases prosecute sellers of seafood found to be “mi*****randed.” The DNA technique has also been used in studies of herbal teas, which showed that a significant percentage contain herbs and ingredients that are not listed on their labels.
美國食品藥品監督局(FDA)曾使用條形碼技術發出警告，某些情況下還批露海產品銷售商“標簽使用不當”。人們曾用DNA技術對草本茶進行研究，結果發現在較大比例的草本茶中含有標簽上未列明的植物與其他成份。
But policing the supplement industry is a special challenge. The F.D.A. requires that companies test the products they sell to make sure that they are safe. But the system essentially operates on the honor code. Unlike prescription drugs, supplements are generally considered safe until proved otherwise.
但是，對補劑業的監管是一個獨特的挑戰。食品藥品監督局要求這些公司自行檢測銷售的產品，以確保安全無虞。但這種體係事實上是按榮譽準則來運作。跟處方藥不同，人們普遍相信補充劑是安全的，除非有測試證明事實並非如此。
Under a 1994 federal law, they can be sold and marketed with little regulatory oversight, and they are pulled from shelves generally only after complaints of serious injury. The F.D.A. audits a small number of companies, but even industry representatives say more oversight is needed.
根據一項1994年的聯邦法規，草藥補劑在銷售和推廣中幾乎不會受到任何監管約束，隻有在受到造成嚴重危害的投訴後才會全麵下架。食品藥品監督局審核少量公司，可是連補劑業界代表都表示，需要得到更多的監控。
“The regulations are very appropriate and rigorous,” said Duffy MacKay of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group. “But we need a strong regulator enforcing the full force of the law. F.D.A. resources are limited, and therefore enforcement has not historically been as rigorous as it could be.”
可靠營養品協會”(Council for Responsible Nutrition)是一家補劑業貿易協會，該協會的杜芬·邁凱伊(Duffy Mackay)說： “相關規章是非常適當和嚴格的，可是我們需要一個強有力的監管方來全麵執法。食品藥品監督局的資源有限，因此追本溯源來看，它的執法也不像應有的那麽嚴厲。”
An F.D.A. spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
食品藥品監督局的女發言人並未回複置評請求。
DNA bar coding was developed about a decade ago at the University of Guelph. Instead of sequencing entire genomes, scientists realized that they could examine genes from a standardized region of every genome to identify species of plants and animals. These short sequences can be quickly analyzed — much like the bar codes on the items at a supermarket — and compared with others in an electronic database. An electronic reference library at Guelph called the International Barcode of Life Project, contains over 2.6 million bar code records for almost 200,000 species of plants and animals.
10年前，圭爾夫大學研發出了DNA條形碼技術。科學家們意識到，他們無需給整個基因組排序，隻需要檢查每個基因中某個標準化區域的基因，就可以鑒別出植物與動物的各類。這種簡短基因序列可以迅速加以分析——這個過程非常像在超市裏掃商品包裝的條形碼——隨後與電子數據庫中的其他物種進行對比。圭爾夫大學建立了一個名為“生命物體國際條碼”的電子參考圖書館，收錄了近20萬個植物和動物物種逾260萬件條形碼檔案。
The testing technique is not foolproof. It can identify the substances in a supplement, but it cannot determine their potency. And because the technology relies on the detection of DNA, it may not be able to identify concentrated chemical extracts that do not contain genetic material, or products in which the material has been destroyed by heat and processing.
這項測試技術並非人人都可使用。它可以在補品中鑒別出各類物質，但無法判斷它們的效力。同時，由於該技術依靠的是對DNA的甄別，因此可能難以鑒別沒有包含遺傳物質的化學萃取物，或是內容物成份已因加熱和炮製而被損毀的產品。
But Dr. Newmaster emphasized that only powders and pills were used in the new research, not extracts. In addition, the DNA testing nearly always detected some plant material in the samples —just not always the plant or herb named on the label.
但是紐馬斯特博士強調說，在這項新研究中，他們隻選取了粉末和藥丸，而非萃取物。此外，DNA檢測幾乎總能在樣本中發現某種植物成份——隻不過不一定是在標簽上列明的植物或藥草。
Some of the adulteration problems may be inadvertent. Cross-contamination can occur in fields where different plants are grown side by side and picked at the same time, or in factories where the herbs are packaged. Dr. Gafner of the American Botanical Council said that rice, starch and other compounds were sometimes added during processing to keep powdered herbs from clumping, just as kernels of rice are added to salt shakers.
部分產品摻雜問題可能是無心之失。在田間不同的植物間作套種、同時收割，或者在工廠的包裝環節，都有可能出現交叉汙染。美國植物委員會的蓋夫納博士說，在加工環節有時會添加大米、澱粉和其他成份以避免碾磨成粉的植物結塊，這跟在鹽瓶裏加入米粒是一個道理。
But that does not explain many of the DNA results. For instance, the study found that one product advertised as black cohosh — a North American plant and popular remedy for hot flashes and other menopause symptoms — actually contained a related Asian plant, Actaea asiatica, that can be toxic to humans.
但這無法解釋很多DNA檢測結果。比方說，一種名為黑升麻的北美作物常常被用來治療潮熱症和其他更年期綜合症，可是研究發現一種標榜為黑升麻的產品，事實上所含的是一種相近的名叫類葉升麻的亞洲作物，而它對人體有毒性。
Those findings mirror a similar study of black cohosh supplementsconducted at Stony Brook University medical center last year. Dr. David A. Baker, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive medicine, bought 36 black cohosh supplements from online and chain stores. Bar coding tests showed that a quarter of them were not black cohosh, but instead contained an ornamental plant from China.
這個發現可以與去年石溪大學(Stony Brook University)醫學中心所做的一項類似的黑升麻補劑試驗兩相對照。婦產科和生殖醫學教授大衛·貝克(David A. Baker)博士從網店和連鎖店購買了36種黑升麻補劑，結果條形碼測試顯示，其中四分之一的產品所含的成份並非黑升麻，而是一種產自中國的觀賞植物。
Dr. Baker called the state of supplement regulation “the Wild West,” and said most consumers had no idea how few safeguards were in place. “If you had a child who was sick and 3 out of 10 penicillin pills were fake, everybody would be up in arms,” Dr. Baker said. “But it’s O.K. to buy a supplement where 3 out of 10 pills are fake. I don’t understand it. Why does this industry get away with that?”
貝克博士形容補劑監管現狀有如“狂野西部”，而且大部分消費者根本不知道當局采取的保障措施是多麽有限。“假如你的孩子病了，而市麵上每10粒青黴素藥中有3粒是假藥，每個人都會義憤填膺，”貝克說，“可是，如果每10粒補劑裏有3粒是假藥，看來沒什麽關係。我真是搞不懂。為什麽這個行業能夠蒙混過關？”
（來源：紐約時報The New York Times，By ANAHAD O’CONNOR November 08, 2013）
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