Quantitative Analysis of Ethanol and Methanol in Herbal Distillates Distributed in Ilam City in Western Iran Using Gas Chromatography

In this study, five types of popular herbal distillates including licorice, fennel, orange blossom, lavender, and cinnamon were purchased from the supply level stores in Ilam city by cluster sampling method and analyzed for the amount of ethanol and methanol.

In the first step, the samples of herbal distillates were taken for testing. In addition, analytical grade ethanol and methanol were purchased from Merck Company and used as controls. Dates of production and expiry of each sample were separately checked and recorded. The samples of every herb distillate were kept in their original containers and used for testing. The names and brands of the manufacturing plants were mentioned as A, B, C, etc., in view of the ethical aspects of the research. The concentration of methanol and ethanol in the products of each company was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and each sample was measured five times and the mean value was reported.

On the basis of the obtained results, the mean concentrations of ethanol and methanol in lavender distillate were 7.20 and 17.00 ppm, respectively. The mean ethanol and methanol levels in orange blossom distillate were 164.26 and 64.25 ppm, respectively. The average ethanol and methanol content in cinnamon distillate were 11.95 and 12.77 ppm, respectively. The mean ethanol and methanol contents in fennel distillate were 3.89 and 7.51 ppm, respectively. The mean ethanol and methanol contents in licorice distillate were 4.15 and 38.31 ppm, respectively. The results of this study showed that herbal distillates have ethanols and particularly methanols.

Herbal distillates that contain methanol and ethanol can be toxic, especially to pregnant women, if taken over a long period of time.