Boswellia-based food supplements
The resin of Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr. (Indian frankincense) has long been used in traditional medicine. As no medicinal product based on this resin is authorised in Germany, a broad market for food supplements has established itself.
As part of our investigations, commercially available products were tested for authenticity using thin-layer chromatography and UHPLC with UV detection (200 and 250 nm), and six pharmacologically relevant boswellic acids (11-keto-β-boswellic acid, 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid, α-boswellic acid, β-boswellic acid, 3-O-acetyl-α-boswellic acid, 3-O-acetyl-β-boswellic acid)
Conclusion:
None of the products tested met the declared levels of boswellic acids, although the term itself is not uniformly defined: some manufacturers refer to the total fraction of triterpenic acids, whereas this study specifically analysed six pharmacologically relevant individual compounds. Three products also exhibited a chromatographic fingerprint that did not match that of Boswellia serrata. Two of these simply declared ‘frankincense extract’ without specifying the species – an assessment is hardly possible here, as ‘frankincense’ encompasses resins from around 24 different Boswellia species, which differ considerably in their composition. For consumers and for quality control, the lack of a species specification therefore remains a key issue.
