On 2016 Mar 31, Mojtaba Heydari commented:

Iranian herbal distillates, as harmful as eating an apple!

In this paper, Shirani et al, have measured methanol content of 84 samples of herbal distillates from Iran market. The results showed the methanol concentration ranging from 43 to 277 mg/L, more than half of samples (45/84) containing methanol levels beyond the standard limits according to the Iranian standard (100mg/L). The authors concluded necessity for" warning to watch out for the latent risk problem of methanol uptake".

However the hazard mentioned in conclusion seems to be so exaggerating. Comparing to a potential exposure of 1,000 mg of methanol per day from fruits and vegetables (1), it seems that 277 mg/L (as the maximum amount of methanol in samples of the present study) can not be that hazardous. To become more understandable, each glass (200 cc) from the distillates with the highest amount of methanol, contains just about 50% of methanol in one medium size apple (200 gram, contains about 100 mg of methanol). (1)

In fact, the problem is the mentioned maximum standard level (100mg/L) for methanol (which is presented without any reference). As author has mentioned the American standard limit for methanol in juices is 460 mg/L, which is far more than highest Iranian distillate sample. According to Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods for complementary medicines, Health Canada for natural products, and European Medicines Agency for Herbal medicinal products, 3000 ppm is mentioned as limit for methanol intake . (2)

So it can be concluded that, despite the importance of monitoring the methanol content of herbal distillates, current samples shows far less amount of methanol than the upper limits of worldwide standards. If the national scale standard recommends the upper limit of 100 mg methanol, it should be revised to allow eating more than one apple a day!

References: 1. Food Standards Agency, Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. COT statement on the effects of chronic dietary exposure to methanol. Available here 2. Mundkinajeddu D, Agarwal A. Residual Methanol in Botanical Dietary Ingredients - Perspectives of a Manufacturer. HerbalEGram 2014, 11(8). Available here

On 2016 Mar 31, Mojtaba Heydari commented:

Iranian herbal distillates, as harmful as eating an apple!

In this paper, Shirani et al, have measured methanol content of 84 samples of herbal distillates from Iran market. The results showed the methanol concentration ranging from 43 to 277 mg/L, more than half of samples (45/84) containing methanol levels beyond the standard limits according to the Iranian standard (100mg/L). The authors concluded necessity for" warning to watch out for the latent risk problem of methanol uptake".

However the hazard mentioned in conclusion seems to be so exaggerating. Comparing to a potential exposure of 1,000 mg of methanol per day from fruits and vegetables (1), it seems that 277 mg/L (as the maximum amount of methanol in samples of the present study) can not be that hazardous. To become more understandable, each glass (200 cc) from the distillates with the highest amount of methanol, contains just about 50% of methanol in one medium size apple (200 gram, contains about 100 mg of methanol). (1)

In fact, the problem is the mentioned maximum standard level (100mg/L) for methanol (which is presented without any reference). As author has mentioned the American standard limit for methanol in juices is 460 mg/L, which is far more than highest Iranian distillate sample. According to Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods for complementary medicines, Health Canada for natural products, and European Medicines Agency for Herbal medicinal products, 3000 ppm is mentioned as limit for methanol intake . (2)

So it can be concluded that, despite the importance of monitoring the methanol content of herbal distillates, current samples shows far less amount of methanol than the upper limits of worldwide standards. If the national scale standard recommends the upper limit of 100 mg methanol, it should be revised to allow eating more than one apple a day!

References: 1. Food Standards Agency, Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. COT statement on the effects of chronic dietary exposure to methanol. Available here 2. Mundkinajeddu D, Agarwal A. Residual Methanol in Botanical Dietary Ingredients - Perspectives of a Manufacturer. HerbalEGram 2014, 11(8). Available here