I recently read an article in the June 4, 2007 issue of Time magazine called Buyer Beware: Taking an herbal supplement can sometimes do more harm than it does good. With the huge market of consumers in this space, it's pretty scary that so many people are putting things into their bodies that they know nothing about. Taking any medication or supplement without consulting your doctor first (even if it is over the counter) should be common practice, even if it does say "natural" on the product. Hey, we all know about those naturally occurring but deathly poisonous mushrooms. We wouldn't eat those if we knew the consequences, would we?
I'm not saying that all herbal supplements are bad. In fact, I think that many of them are quite good, i.e. Vitamin C and Echinacea when you have a cold. But what about when you take combinations of prescription medication and herbal supplements? Who knows what could happen. The moral of the story is, like anything else, know what you're putting into your body. Consult your physician before taking any over-the-counter medications or supplements.
Here are the main points from the article that I'd like to share:
- Over the past decade, use of herbal supplements has increased 83%.
- Some herbal supplements can actually decrease the effectiveness of prescription drugs.
- Saint-John's-wort, which is an herbal supplement that has been used to treat mild to moderate depression, is known to reduce the effectiveness of some HIV medications and heart drugs (such as digoxin and warfarin).
- Certain supplements can have adverse effects, ranging from nausea and vomiting to life-threatening conditions like liver or kidney dysfunction.
- In 2002, the FDA released a warning about potential liver damage from the kava root, which was then one of the 10 most popular herbal supplements sold in the U.S.
- In 2004 the FDA banned ephedra, a Chinese weight-loss herb, after it was linked to more than 100 deaths.
- Some Ayurvedic supplements (medications based on Indian and South Asian practices) may be modified and thus could be contaminated with dangerous heavy metals, including lead and mercury.
- A National Institutes of Health study showed that 19% of Americans take herbal supplements, and more than half the time they're using them to treat specific illnesses - not for general well-being.
- In more than 2/3 of these cases, the herbs have never been clinically proven to be effective for those uses.
