加拿大科学家用DNA检测的方法发现市场上绝大部分草药制品里面都是米粉或者面粉等廉价货,根本不含草药. 

草药营养品往往名不副实

Herbal Supplements Are Often Not What They Seem

 来源: 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.

预计美国人每年要花50亿美元，用于购买疗效未获证实的草药补剂，这些补剂号称能医治百病，从治疗感冒到抑制潮热症再到提高记忆力，不一而足。可是现在出现了一个新的消费者应警惕草药制剂的原因：DNA测试表明，很多标明有治愈能力的草本植物药物，其实所含的无外乎是米粉和杂草罢了。

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.

加拿大的研究人员使用了一种叫DNA条形码的测试方法，这种基因指纹鉴别法也曾用来揭露海产品销售业的标识欺诈问题。他们测试了由12家公司经销的44瓶畅销补药，结果发现其中很多名不符实，而且标签上注明的那些受欢迎的草药常常经过了像大豆、小麦和大米粉这类廉价填充物的稀释，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.

消费者保护团体和科学家们表示，该项研究提供了更充分的证据，证明在草药补剂业充斥着种种可疑行径。而业界代表则声称，这些问题都不是普遍现象。

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.

在试验中，研究人员先是选取了市面上最流行的药用植物，随后在加拿大和美国的商店和专卖店购买了不同品牌的产品。为了避免针对个别公司，他们并未透露任何商品的名称。

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.

上百万美国人用紫锥菊补充剂来预防和治疗感冒，而这项研究的其中一个发现，就是在几瓶紫锥剂补剂中找到了碾碎的苦味植物银胶菊，这是一种在印度和澳大利亚发现的入侵植物，目前已知和皮疹、恶心与肠胃胀气有关。

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.

圣约翰草是一种研究发现也许能治疗轻微抑郁的补剂，可两瓶标注为圣约翰草的药品当中都完全不含有这种药草。相反，其中一瓶药丸完全由大米制成，而另 一瓶所含的只是亚历山大塞纳叶，这是一种生长在埃及的黄色灌木，有强力致泻作用。商家号称可提高记忆力的银杏叶提取物，其中则混杂了填充物和黑核桃果实， 对于坚果过敏的人群来说，它有潜在致死的危险。

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.

在这44种受测试的草药补剂中，有三分之一只含有替代物，意味着根本找不到外包装中标注含有的植物成份——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.

还有很多补剂中掺杂了标签上并未列明的成份，比如用大米、大豆和小麦作为填充物。

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.

在某些情况下，这些填充物就是瓶子里唯一能找到的植物——该研究第一作者、圭尔夫大学(University of Guelph)安大略生物多样性研究所的生物学教授、植物学系主任斯蒂文·纽马斯特(Steven G. Newmaster)说，对于过敏人群或者寻找无谷蛋白制品的人士来说，这构成了健康隐患。

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.

在这项发表于《BMC医学》(BMC Medicine)的研究之前，近年来还有多项小型研究已经表明，相当大比例的草药制品成份与商品标签并不相符。但由于这项新发现得到了DNA测试的支持，因此可提供迄今为止最可信的证据，证明药品补剂业存在以次充好、交叉污染和标签使用不当等问题，药品补剂业是替代医学中一个迅速增长的领域，预计包括了2.9万种在北美各地销售的草药产品和提取物。

“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.”

这说明问题普遍存在，而且很多公司的品质控制问题——不管是由无知、无能还是无信造成——是我们完全不能接受的，”倡导团体“公共利益科学中心”(Center for Science in the Public Interest)的资深营养学家大卫·沙尔特(David Schardt)说：“看到这些研究结论，很难再向消费者推荐任何一种草药补剂。”

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.

补剂业界的代表则说，尽管补剂标签不当是个合情合理的问题，但他们相信并没有达到这项新研究所表明的广泛程度。

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.

推广草药补剂使用的非营利机构美国植物委员会(American Botanical Council)首席科学官斯蒂芬·盖夫纳(Stefan Gafner)说，这项研究存在缺陷，部分原因是它使用的条形码技术并不一定能识别出经过提纯和高度压缩处理的草药。

“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.”

总的来说，我同意品质控制是草药业界目前存在的问题，”盖夫纳博士说，“但我认为在研究中描述的问题是言过其实的。我觉得情况不可能像研究显示得那么糟糕。”

可靠营养品协会”(Council for Responsible Nutrition)是一家补剂业贸易协会，该协会的杜芬·迈凯伊(Duffy Mackay)说： “相关规章是非常适当和严格的，可是我们需要一个强有力的监管方来全面执法。食品药品监督局的资源有限，因此追本溯源来看，它的执法也不像应有的那么严厉。”

An F.D.A. spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

食品药品监督局的女发言人并未回复置评请求。

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，圭尔夫大学研发出了DNA条形码技术。科学家们意识到，他们无需给整个基因组排序，只需要检查每个基因中某个标准化区域的基因，就可以鉴别出植物与动物的各类。这种简短基因序列可以迅速加以分析——这个过程非常像在超市里扫商品包装的条形码——随后与电子数据库中的其他物种进行对比。圭尔夫大学建立了一个名为“生命物体国际条码”的电子参考图书馆，收录了近20万个植物和动物物种逾260万件条形码档案。

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.

这项测试技术并非人人都可使用。它可以在补品中鉴别出各类物质，但无法判断它们的效力。同时，由于该技术依靠的是对DNA的甄别，因此可能难以鉴别没有包含遗传物质的化学萃取物，或是内容物成份已因加热和炮制而被损毁的产品。

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.

但是纽马斯特博士强调说，在这项新研究中，他们只选取了粉末和药丸，而非萃取物。此外，DNA检测几乎总能在样本中发现某种植物成份——只不过不一定是在标签上列明的植物或药草。

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.

部分产品掺杂问题可能是无心之失。在田间不同的植物间作套种、同时收割，或者在工厂的包装环节，都有可能出现交叉污染。美国植物委员会的盖夫纳博士说，在加工环节有时会添加大米、淀粉和其他成份以避免碾磨成粉的植物结块，这跟在盐瓶里加入米粒是一个道理。

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.

但这无法解释很多DNA检测结果。比方说，一种名为黑升麻的北美作物常常被用来治疗潮热症和其他更年期综合症，可是研究发现一种标榜为黑升麻的产品，事实上所含的是一种相近的名叫类叶升麻的亚洲作物，而它对人体有毒性。

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.

这个发现可以与去年石溪大学(Stony Brook University)医学中心所做的一项类似的黑升麻补剂试验两相对照。妇产科和生殖医学教授大卫·贝克(David A. Baker)博士从网店和连锁店购买了36种黑升麻补剂，结果条形码测试显示，其中四分之一的产品所含的成份并非黑升麻，而是一种产自中国的观赏植物。

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?”

贝克博士形容补剂监管现状有如“狂野西部”，而且大部分消费者根本不知道当局采取的保障措施是多么有限。“假如你的孩子病了，而市面上每10粒青霉素药中有3粒是假药，每个人都会义愤填膺，”贝克说，“可是，如果每10粒补剂里有3粒是假药，看来没什么关系。我真是搞不懂。为什么这个行业能够蒙混过关？”

（来源：纽约时报The New York Times，By ANAHAD O’CONNOR November 08, 2013）