Screening of Adulterants in Slimming Herbal Formulation by FTIR Analysis

Abstract

Herbal formulations are used worldwide during these days specifically as the remedy of some commonly occurring health problems such as diabetes, obesity and digestive disorder. As the use and demand of these herbal formulations have increased, cases of adulteration of herbal formulations with synthetic pharmaceuticals have also increased. The main reason behind the adulteration in herbal formulation with the synthetic drug is to get commercial gain by increasing effectiveness of the herbal formulation. As the use of herbal slimming formulation is on the rise in India due to increasing problem of obesity, therefore, the main aim of the present study is to analyze the herbal slimming formulations present in the Indian market for the presence of synthetic pharmaceuticals by FTIR method. Out of 20 herbal slimming formulations analysed, 7 herbal slimming samples were detected with the presence of synthetic drugs such as Modafinil, Salbutamol, Phenolphthalein and Caffeine. In our study, FTIR has proven an effective method for screening of synthetic pharmaceutical in Herbal formulations.