49I-12 |
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R. A. CLEMENS1, M. P. Pujari1, and P. A. Sandford2. (1) School of Pharmacy, Univ. of Southern California, 1985 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90089-9121, (2) Leiner Health Products, 901 E. 233rd St., Carson, CA 90745 Many health organizations support increased intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and neurological disease in adults and to improve neural development in infants. Recent reports suggest some fish oil dietary supplements do not provide the claimed levels of these fatty acids (linoleic, a-linolenic, arachidonic, eicospentaenoic, decosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic) and place the consumer at risk due to the PCB content. A closer examination of these reports indicated that inappropriate analytical methods may have been applied to these dietary supplements. The current study analyzed and compared 18 dietary fish oil and algal/fungal oil supplements according to EPA and AOAC methods and a proposed rapid screening ELISA procedure for PCBs. In addition, a commercial analytical laboratory analyzed the same dietary supplements using the same EPA method for PCBs. The results of PCB analysis (42 congeners, which include all 7 congeners listed in the WHO monogram and all aroclors) from our laboratory and a commercial laboratory indicated that none of the PCB congeners was detected except congeners 118 (2,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl) and 180 (2,2',3,4,4',5,5'-heptachlorobiphenyl) which were detected < 1 ppb. On the other hand, the ELISA procedure appeared to provide a high percentage of false positives. The fatty acid profile demonstrated that these dietary supplements provided a range of 90-120% of the label claim for the identified polyunsaturated fatty acids. These results from 18 dietary supplements of fish oil emphasize the importance of applying the appropriate analytical methods to these kinds of dietary supplements, especially those that may reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular and neurological disease or potentially improve the neural development of infants.
Session 49I, Toxicology & Safety Evaluation: General
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