BAPP Publishes Bulletin on Echinacea Adulteration

The ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) has published a Botanical Adulterants Prevention Bulletin on echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia, E. pallida, and E. pururea) root and herb.

Echinacea is popular as a dietary supplement for immune support, and ranked second and fourth, respectively, in top-selling herbal dietary supplements in U.S. mainstream and retail channels, with over $168 million in sales.

Echinacea roots have a long history of adulteration, with the main form being adulteration with Parthenium integrifolium, also known as prairie dock. More recently, instances of adulteration involve supplements containing the wrong echinacea species, or mixtures of species in a product claiming to only contain one. Other issues include undeclared leaf extracts, products that are mostly made of excipients, and the adulteration of E. angustifolia extracts with Cistanche species.

The bulletin was written by Sebnem Harput Döner, PhD, an Istanbul-based natural products and pharmacology expert, and Stefan Gafner, PhD, chief science officer of the American Botanical Council (ABC) and director of BAPP.

The bulletin summarizes available scientific literature on the subject, and provides information about uses, sourcing, supply chain, and mislabeling of echinacea roots and herb, as well as a brief overview of taxonomy, chemistry, and common methods of analysis. The bulletin was peer-reviewed by 25 medicinal plant quality control experts from nonprofit research and educational organizations, contract analytical labs, academia, botanical gardens, and the U.S. and global herb industry.

 “Most of the authenticity issues with echinacea dietary supplement products may be due to inadvertent blending of two Echinacea species in the same batch, or admixture of some aerial parts to roots,” said Gafner. “Nevertheless, there are some cases of economically motivated (i.e., intentional) adulteration. In particular, several industry members have noticed the sale of extracts from Cistanche species labeled as Echinacea angustifolia. Since desert broomrape (Cistanche deserticola), which is used in traditional Chinese medicine,is listed under CITES Appendix II, the trade of this plant is limited and requires a permit. Therefore, manufacturers that inadvertently sell desert broomrape as echinacea are violating not only current Good Manufacturing Practices for dietary supplements but also CITES regulations.”

“A native American medicinal plant, echinacea is one of the most popular herbs used therapeutically in North America,” said Mark Blumenthal, ABC founder and executive director. “Some species of echinacea – e.g., E. purpurea, or purple coneflower – are relatively easy to grow commercially and inexpensive, so there’s usually not much motivation for intentional adulteration and fraud. The new BAPP echinacea bulletin is a useful quality control resource for responsible members of the global herb and dietary supplement industry to aid them in setting appropriate identity specifications for echinacea ingredients.”