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Occurrence of aflatoxin in some liver curative herbal medicines
Author(s) -
Kumar S.,
Roy A.K.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1111/j.1472-765x.1993.tb01437.x
Subject(s) - aflatoxin , traditional medicine , biology , medicine , food science
Fifty herbal medicine samples of seven different taxa known to cure liver disorders were analysed for aflatoxin contamination. Twenty‐three samples, out of 50, were contaminated with various levels of aflatoxins. Amongst the 23 contaminated samples the maximum level of aflatoxin B 1 recorded was 2.23 μg g ‐1 in Asparagus racemosus and the minimum 0.28 μg g ‐1 in Emblica officinalis . Aflatoxin G 1 was only found in one species, Terminalia belarica . Aflatoxin production of the isolates of Aspergillus flavus was also examined and the highest levels were produced by isolates from A. racemosus (1.07‐2.47 μg ml ‐1 ). Aflatoxin contamination of herbal drugs may be a risk for patients because the level of aflatoxins is much higher than the tolerance level fixed by the WHO for foods.