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Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria

Received: 15 October 2018    Accepted: 12 August 2019    Published: 28 August 2019
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Abstract

In Nigeria, Aphrodisiac herbs as well as other herbal medicines are hawked on the roadside, sold in stores and most of them are not certified by relevant Drug Agencies to be fit for human consumption. They lack manufacturing dates, Expiry dates, Batch number and any information about the chemical composition of such herbs. The buyers of such drugs patronize the black markets in their bid to give their partners maximum sexual gratification. It is no longer irregular to see sellers of such herbs moving around on foot or in vehicles in the streets marketing their various merchandize without any sort of restriction. Married men purchase these herbs to satisfy their wives and mistresses; Wives also purchase these herbs on behalf of their men; Youths who aren’t married also purchase these herbs to exhibit their sexual prowess to their peers and friends. This research examined qualitatively and quantitatively the Lead and Cadmium concentrations in twelve locally sold Aphrodisiac herbs in South Eastern region of Nigeria. From the result obtained, 100% of the samples were within the lead permissible limit and 83.33% of the samples were also within the cadmium permissible limit as stipulated by the World Health Organization. It is recommended that Nigeria as well as other African countries should incorporate these herbs into the National healthcare System because there is an urgent need for quality assurance, safety and standardization of these herbs for the benefit of the consumers.

Published in Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13
Page(s) 22-26
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Aphrodisiac, Heavy Metals, Lead, Cadmium, Herbal Medicine, South-East, Nigeria

References
[1] Bello, U. L., and Isah, J. (2015). Use of herbal medicines and aphrodisiac substances among women in Kano state, Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 4 (4); 41-50.
[2] Samali, A., Mohammed, M. I., and Ibrahim, M. B. (2017). Analysis of Heavy Metals Concentration in Kano Herbal Preparations for Major Diseases. Chemsearch Journal, 8 (2); 22-28.
[3] Ghani, A. Saeed, S., Ali, Z., Ahmad, I. Ishtiaq, M. (2012). Heavy metals and nutritional composition of some selected herbal plants of soon Valley, Khushab, Punjab, Pakistan. African Journal of Biotechnology, 11 (76); 14064-14068.
[4] Bais, S. K., and Chandewar, A. V. (2010). Significance of some toxicological parameters standardization of herbal medicine marketed in India: A review. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, 7 (5); 1-4.
[5] Okem, A., Southway, C., Ndhlala, A. R., Van Staden, J. (2012). Determination of total and bioavailable heavy and trace metals in South African commercial herbal concotions using ICP-OES. South African Journal of Botany, 82 (1); 75-82.
[6] MacDonald, I., Ovuakporie-Uvo, O., and Adeola, J. (2015). Heavy metals contamination of some polyherbal products from Lagos state, Nigeria. Journal of Ayurvedic and Herbal medicine, 1 (2); 45-50.
[7] Umar, A., Mohammed, Y., Garba, S., Faruruwa, M. D. (2016). Quantitative determination of heavy metals in some commonly consumed herbal medicines in Kano state, Nigeria, 3 (2); 39-46.
[8] Iwuozor, K. O., and Ekpunobi, E. C. (2018). Physico-Chemical Parametters of Industrial Effluents from a Brewery Industry in Imo State, Nigeria. Journal of Modern Chemistry, 6 (4); 50-55.
[9] World Health Organization, (1998). Quality Control Methods for Medicinal Plants Materials.
[10] Mousavi, Z., Ziaratti, P., Dehaghi, M. E., and Qomi, M. (2014). Heavy Metals (Lead and Cadmium) in some Medicinnal Herbal Products in Iranian Market. Iranian Journal of Toxicology, 8 (24); 1004-1009.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Iwuozor Kingsley Ogemdi. (2019). Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria. Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, 3(1), 22-26. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13

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    ACS Style

    Iwuozor Kingsley Ogemdi. Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria. Pharm. Sci. Technol. 2019, 3(1), 22-26. doi: 10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13

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    AMA Style

    Iwuozor Kingsley Ogemdi. Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria. Pharm Sci Technol. 2019;3(1):22-26. doi: 10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13,
      author = {Iwuozor Kingsley Ogemdi},
      title = {Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria},
      journal = {Pharmaceutical Science and Technology},
      volume = {3},
      number = {1},
      pages = {22-26},
      doi = {10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pst.20190301.13},
      abstract = {In Nigeria, Aphrodisiac herbs as well as other herbal medicines are hawked on the roadside, sold in stores and most of them are not certified by relevant Drug Agencies to be fit for human consumption. They lack manufacturing dates, Expiry dates, Batch number and any information about the chemical composition of such herbs. The buyers of such drugs patronize the black markets in their bid to give their partners maximum sexual gratification. It is no longer irregular to see sellers of such herbs moving around on foot or in vehicles in the streets marketing their various merchandize without any sort of restriction. Married men purchase these herbs to satisfy their wives and mistresses; Wives also purchase these herbs on behalf of their men; Youths who aren’t married also purchase these herbs to exhibit their sexual prowess to their peers and friends. This research examined qualitatively and quantitatively the Lead and Cadmium concentrations in twelve locally sold Aphrodisiac herbs in South Eastern region of Nigeria. From the result obtained, 100% of the samples were within the lead permissible limit and 83.33% of the samples were also within the cadmium permissible limit as stipulated by the World Health Organization. It is recommended that Nigeria as well as other African countries should incorporate these herbs into the National healthcare System because there is an urgent need for quality assurance, safety and standardization of these herbs for the benefit of the consumers.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    T1  - Heavy Metal Concentration of Aphrodisiac Herbs Locally Sold in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria
    AU  - Iwuozor Kingsley Ogemdi
    Y1  - 2019/08/28
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13
    T2  - Pharmaceutical Science and Technology
    JF  - Pharmaceutical Science and Technology
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pst.20190301.13
    AB  - In Nigeria, Aphrodisiac herbs as well as other herbal medicines are hawked on the roadside, sold in stores and most of them are not certified by relevant Drug Agencies to be fit for human consumption. They lack manufacturing dates, Expiry dates, Batch number and any information about the chemical composition of such herbs. The buyers of such drugs patronize the black markets in their bid to give their partners maximum sexual gratification. It is no longer irregular to see sellers of such herbs moving around on foot or in vehicles in the streets marketing their various merchandize without any sort of restriction. Married men purchase these herbs to satisfy their wives and mistresses; Wives also purchase these herbs on behalf of their men; Youths who aren’t married also purchase these herbs to exhibit their sexual prowess to their peers and friends. This research examined qualitatively and quantitatively the Lead and Cadmium concentrations in twelve locally sold Aphrodisiac herbs in South Eastern region of Nigeria. From the result obtained, 100% of the samples were within the lead permissible limit and 83.33% of the samples were also within the cadmium permissible limit as stipulated by the World Health Organization. It is recommended that Nigeria as well as other African countries should incorporate these herbs into the National healthcare System because there is an urgent need for quality assurance, safety and standardization of these herbs for the benefit of the consumers.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 1
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Author Information
  • Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

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