An overview on the main results obtained in the framework of the EU Project PlantLIBRA (Plant Food Supplement: Levels of Intake, Benefit and Risk Assessment)

Botanicals and botanical derivatives are widely consumed in Western diets from various sources; among them, plant food supplements (PFS) are the most usual commercialized forms. The wide diffusion of these products requires new analytical methods to control their quality, guarantee their safety, and contribute to the scientific studies aimed to evaluate their beneficial effects. PlantLIBRA project (acronym of PLANT food supplements: Levels of Intake, Benefit and Risk Assessment) aims to foster the safe use of plant food supplements. One of the objectives of this project was the characterization of botanical as raw materials, extracts, or ingredients of PFS present in the market and the University of Milan was highly involved in the development of new analytical methods. In the first steps of the research, High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), which is a fast and suitable method for the screening of different groups of molecules (Reich and Schibli, 2006; Reich et al, 2008), was used to characterize plant preparations and assess some associated biological activities (among others antioxidant properties). HPLC methods were set up for the identification and quantification of: 1) specific active molecules present in PFS and their botanical ingredients responsible for beneficial or adverse effects; 2) biomarkers in biological fluids to estimate both exposure and poisonings. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 245199. It has been carried out within the PlantLIBRA project (www. plantlibra.eu). This report does not necessarily reflect the Commission views or its future policy on this area. Reich E., Schibli A. (2006). High Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography for the Analysis of Medicinal Plants . CIC Edizione internazionale: 92-125. Reich E., Schibli A., DeBatt A. (2008) Validation of High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Methods for the Identification of Botanicals in cGMPEnvironmental. Journal of AOAC International 91: 13-20.