A Comprehensive Review on Adulteration and Substitution of Crude Drugs

Abstract

Herbs are an effective source of Ayurvedic medicine and other traditional medicines as well as modern medicine. Faced with the challenges of modern medicine, the world is shifting toward Ayurvedic theories of health management. In the treatment of the disease, the use of drugs is not limited. This increases the demand for raw materials exponentially. However, production growth is still linear. Rapid depletion of resources creates major problems. To fill the deficit, advances in adulteration and substitution are becoming more prevalent. This adulteration and substitution are a burning problem in an industry that threatens the integrity of Ayurvedic system of medicine. Imprecise knowledge, misidentification, deforestation, and personal gain have led to adulteration. Therefore, an understanding of all ways of adulteration and substitutions is needed to amend this illegal act and maximize consumer safety. This article focuses on adulteration, its types and various methods of adulteration, as well as the concept of substitution, reasoning, and its types. Attempts have also been made to differentiate these two related terms.

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“…The addition of active ingredients to so-called "natural" products is a common problem around the world and has been on the rise in recent years [15]. Numerous labels omit important ingredients that turn out to be drugs or experimental chemicals.…”

Exploring the phyto- and physicochemical evaluation, fluorescence characteristics, and antioxidant activities of Acacia ferruginea Dc: an endangered medicinal plant

“…Adulteration and replacement constitute a significant issue in an enterprise that jeopardizes the reputation of the herbal medicine system, resulting from a lack of precise information, misidentification, and personal benefit [24]. To reform this unconstitutional act and enhance customer protection and poor medication handling, physicochemical parameters must be evaluated.…”

Detection of adulteration of Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn. with Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R. Br. by pharmacognostic, molecular DNA fingerprinting by RAPD, chemical and HPTLC studies

“…At the same time, for trademarked herbal drugs, ethnomedicinal use based drugs and extract based drugs, safety and efficacy studies are mandatory (29). The crucial benchmark for substitution should be the pharmacological activity than the morphology or phytochemicals of the plant drug (30).…”