ePlantLIBRA data and structure

Adverse effects

ePlantLIBRA includes quality evaluated information from 210 publications containing 243 case-reports of adverse events from the consumption of 41 different botanicals or PFS. Publications included are those covering plants where the adverse effects have been classified with the causality assessement as certain, probable or possible. 

A publication covering the literature search used for compiling the adverse effects section has been accepted for publication in British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Click here for access to the publication. 

Beneficial bioeffects

Including the data inherited from eBASIS, 931 references covering the beneficial bioeffects of 77 plant based foods have been included in ePlantLIBRA. Specifically, for ePlantLIBRA, 211 new peer reviewed publications have been quality assessed for data entry covering 33 plants and PFS. Beneficial effects papers included cover five priority health areas: cardiovascular health, digestive health, inflammation, menopausal symptoms and post-menopausal bone health.  

Composition data

Including the inherited eBASIS plant food data, ePlantLIBRA contains 30,000 quality assessed datapoints from over 700 peer reviewed publications, covering 258 plants, 35 Plant Food Supplements and 620 bioactive compounds. 78 of the plants within the database are botanicals used as PFS, e.g. Dandelion, Echinacea, Ginkgo and Ginseng products.

Contaminant information

Detailed work has been carried out to connect 374 plants in ePlantLIBRA with commodities in the MoniQA database with links to appropriate pesticide maximum residue levels (MRLs) and other contaminants.  Furthermore, data on global occurrences of safety issues in traded commodities from HorizonScan have been linked to ePlantLIBRA to provide current examples of the range of residues and contaminants likely to be encountered in such commodities. 

Plant food supplement information

55 generic PFS products having been added to ePlantLIBRA with full information completed covering information on claimed effect, dose form, target group, contraindications, interactions, legislation and reference information. 

Plant information

Scientific names, plant families, synonyms, common names in 15 European languages, colour photographs to aid identification and links to the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), together with details on edible parts, colour, size and shape, have been  included for the plants in ePlantLIBRA. LanguaL has been used to code food descriptions.