Galantamine Supplements Found Mislabeled, Contaminated

February 28, 2024|Family Medicine

TOPLINE:

Galantamine purchased as a dietary supplement may be more likely to contain bacterial contaminants and an incorrect amount of the product vs when it is prescribed as a generic drug, new research showed.

METHODOLOGY:

Galantamine, a plant alkaloid, is approved for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia but is also marketed as a dietary supplement for cognitive enhancement.
In June 2023, researchers purchased all 10 galantamine dietary supplements available on Amazon.com that had a Supplement Facts panel.
In September 2023, they acquired all 11 generic immediate-release formulations of prescription galantamine available in the United States.
They analyzed the content of galantamine in each product using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and quantified any microorganisms present.

TAKEAWAY:

Generic galantamine drugs were found to contain 97.5%-104.2% of the labeled content, with no microbial contamination.
Galantamine dietary supplements, however, showed a wide variance in content, ranging from less than 2% to 110% of the labeled amount, and 30% were contaminated with Bacillus cereus sensu stricto. The amount of bacteria present would not have been expected to harm consumers, according to the authors of the study.

IN PRACTICE:

“Clinicians should query patients with memory concerns about the use of dietary supplements and advise patients not to use galantamine supplements,” the researchers wrote.

SOURCE:

The corresponding author of the study was Pieter A. Cohen, MD, with Broadway Clinic, Cambridge Health Alliance, in Somerville, Massachusetts. The paper was published online as a research letter in JAMA.

LIMITATIONS:

The products were purchased at a single point in time and may not reflect current options, the researchers noted. The generalizability of the findings to other supplement ingredients or generic drugs is unknown.

DISCLOSURES:

Dr. Cohen has received grants from the Consumers Union and PEW Charitable Trust and personal fees from UpToDate and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has been sued by a supplement company in a case where the jury found in his favor.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.