Toxicity Potential of Nutraceuticals

Abstract

By the turn of the twenty-first century, the use of nutraceuticals became increasingly popular in both humans and animals due to their easy access, cost-effectiveness, and tolerability with a wide margin of safety. While some nutraceuticals are safe, others have a toxic potential. For a large number of nutraceuticals, no toxicity/safety data are available due to a lack of pharmacological/toxicological studies. The safety of some nutraceuticals can be compromised via contamination with toxic plants, metals, mycotoxins, pesticides, fertilizers, drugs of abuse, etc. Knowledge of pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic studies appears to play a pivotal role in safety and toxicity assessment of nutraceuticals. Interaction studies are essential to determine efficacy, safety, and toxicity when nutraceuticals and therapeutic drugs are used concomitantly. This chapter describes various aspects of nutraceuticals, particularly their toxic potential, and the factors influencing their safety.

Safety issues and harmful pharmacological interactions of nutritional supplements in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: considerations for Standard of Care and emerging virus outbreaks

“…Consumers, health professionals and industry members can report unwanted reactions to dietary supplements and regulators can take actions to protect the public from unsafe products, including withdrawal due to proven or suspected harmful effects and toxicity. Reasons for recalls include contamination by microbiological species, pesticides, and heavy metals as well as abnormal presence of dietary ingredients with respect to what claimed in the label, including absence, reduction or excess, or the presence of other active principles [40]. In fact, many supplements contain ingredients that have strong biological effects, and such products may not be safe in all people, especially if an underlying pathology or an acute viral or bacterial infection requires concomitant use of other drugs, increasing the risk of potential harmful interactions (see Directive 2002/46/EC [41]).…”

Polymeric Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery: Recent Developments and Future Prospects

“…A small number of these products do have a toxic potential, associated with hepatotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity [ 213 , 214 ]. In addition, the safety of some nutraceuticals can be compromised via contamination with toxic plants, metals, mycotoxins, pesticides, fertilizers or drug-supplement interactions [ 215 ]. Chemical structures of polyphenols could alleviate cytotoxicity induced by NPs through the inhibition of oxidative stress, hydrodynamic size, zeta potential and solubility caused by some NPs, such as the ones derived from zinc oxide (ZnO) [ 216 ].…”

Therapeutic application of nutraceuticals in diabetic nephropathy: Current evidence and future implications

“…Pharmacological and toxicological properties of nutraceuticals comparing with their synthetic pharmaceutical counterparts are more complex due to (a) a variety of active components in a single plant, (b) difference in phytochemical constituents associated with the geography, soil ingredients, and weather, (c) use of fertilizers and pesticides, (d) stress, (e) diurnal variation associated with harvesting, and (f) quality control standards 44 . These variations and lack of standard extracting procedures lead to different purity, quality, composition, and safety of active constituents 45 . Some plant extracts are potentially toxic due to their toxic phytoconstituents, while others can be contaminated with metals (cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury), pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.…”