Identification and quantification of vinpocetine and picamilon in dietary supplements sold in the United States.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Laboratory chemical analytical bench study of commercial products with no human subjects (graded by CEBM analogy)
PubMed 26426301 · doi:10.1002/dta.1853
What was done
Researchers developed and validated an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode-array (UHPLC-PDA) method (C-18 column, water/acetonitrile mobile phase) to identify and quantify vinpocetine and picamilon in dietary supplements sold in the United States. Samples included 23 vinpocetine supplements purchased from two large retail chains and 31 picamilon supplements purchased from various retailers.
What was found
The assay limits of detection were 10 ng/mL for vinpocetine and 50 ng/mL for picamilon. Of the 23 vinpocetine products, 17 contained vinpocetine ranging from 0.3 to 32 mg per recommended daily serving, 6 contained no detectable vinpocetine, and 3 misidentified vinpocetine as a constituent of lesser periwinkle. Of the 31 picamilon products, 30 contained picamilon ranging from 2.7 to 721.5 mg per recommended daily serving.
Why it matters
Consumers purchasing dietary supplements in the United States cannot rely on label claims to know whether vinpocetine or picamilon is present or at what dosage, exposing them to potentially high pharmaceutical doses.
Limits
The study evaluated a non-exhaustive convenience sample of 54 supplement products. It did not test batch-to-batch consistency, product stability over time, or clinical pharmacokinetic and health outcomes in human consumers.
Cited by
- context A study found that approximately 70% of dietary supplements on the market do not contain their labeled contents or stated concentrations.