Authentication of tejocote (Crataegus mexicana) dietary supplements based on DNA barcoding and chemical profiling

ABSTRACT

Tejocote (Crataegus mexicana, Mexican hawthorn), known as a weight-loss supplement, has been marketed online and is easily available for overseas direct purchase. Alipotec (brand name) is known as one of the most popular products containing tejocote in Mexico and other countries. However, adverse effects have been reported by users of these supplements. Therefore it is necessary to find the reason for the side effect. Dietary supplement samples labelled as containing tejocote were analysed using mass spectrometry and DNA barcoding analysis. Our results demonstrate that Alipotec samples contained ingredients from different species, yellow oleander instead of tejocote. The rpoB barcode region was able to differentiate between tejocote and yellow oleander species. Moreover, it was also observed that three compounds, including thevetin B, neriifolin, and digitoxigenin, clearly distinguish between tejocote and yellow oleander samples. This is the first and preliminary investigation to use an integrated approach of both chemical and genomic profiling for the authentication of dietary supplement containing tejocote.

KEYWORDS:

• Tejocote
• Alipotec
• yellow oleander
• authentication
• chemometric analysis
• DNA barcoding

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Erica Oh (Waters Korea) for her assistance in the laboratory experiments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea [20161MFDS052].