MEDICINAL PLANT POISONING AND HERB-DRUG INTERACTION: A REVIEW

Abstract

It is estimated that three quarters of the earth populace rely on herbal and conventional medicine as an origin for principal health care. Therefore, it is one of the most important and challenging errands for scientists working in drug research to examine the effectiveness of herbal medicine, to divide constructive from adverse effects, to recognize active ideology in medicinal plants and to ban poisonous plants or contaminations from herbal mixtures. In the present review, some problems are critically discussed. Botanical misidentification or mislabeling of plant material can play a role for toxic reactions in humans. Some plant descriptions in traditional herbal medicine (e.g. traditional Chinese medicine) have changed over time, which may lead to unintended intoxication by using incorrect plants. A difficulty is also the contamination of herbals with microorganisms, fungal toxins such as aflatoxin, with pesticides and heavy metals. Unprincipled processing, which differs from safe traditional preparation represents one more potential source for herbal poisoning. Unwanted effects of herbal products may also expand by the interaction of herbs with conventional drugs upon associated intake. The art of herbal medicine is to divide pharmacologically and therapeutically prec ious herbal drugs from harmful and toxic ones and to expand combinations of medicinal plants as safe and efficient herbal remedies. Standardization and strict control measures are essential to monitor sustainable high quality of herbal products and to exclude contaminations that badly affect patients consuming herbal medicine.