Progresses in Applications of Stable Isotope Technology to Determining Geographical Origins of Traditional Chinese Medicines

Abstract

Identification of proper geographical origin of traditional Chinese medicine is critical for guaranteeing the quality and efficacy of the medicine, safeguarding the market order, and reducing the medical negligence rate due to fake products. Stable isotope technology, as one of the most efficient methods to determine agricultural products authenticity and traceability, have great advantages and theoretical basis for determining geo-origin of traditional Chinese medicine, and it has been applied to many expensive herbs. In this review, the basic principles of isotopic traceability were firstly introduced. We then elaborate in details the frequently-used isotopic indicators in the geo origin studies of traditional Chinese medicine. We also provide a summary of current research progresses and point out some directions for future research. The purpose of this paper is to promote the applications of stable isotopes to traditional Chinese medicine traceability studies and the establishment of the isotopic database and the improvement of the medicine traceability.

Keywords

• Chinese herbs
• geoherbalism
• geographic origin
• stable isotope
• traceability