Adverse Effects Of Herbal Medicines Research Articles

Herbal medicine use and presence of maternal-fetal complications in pregnant patients from western Mexico: A cross-sectional study

IntroductionThe use of herbs has been widely studied around the world, their use varies greatly since it is related to social, cultural, and economic factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of maternal use of herbal medicine with the presence of maternal-fetal complications in pregnant patients in western Mexico. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted through a survey of 241 pregnant or postpartum women in western Mexico. A structured interview and a review of their clinical records were used to gain insight about the use of herbal medicine, the type of plants used, and the presence of complications during pregnancy, partum, or the immediate puerperium, as well as complications related to the fetus at birth. ResultsThirty-five-point-seven percent (n=86) of the surveyed women said that they had used herbal medicine during pregnancy. The most frequently mentioned plant was chamomile, prepared as infusion .(55.8 %). Regarding maternal complications, 54.7 % of the users of medicinal plants, and 62.6 % of the non-users presented some complication (p=0.22). Complications in the newborn occurred in 17.5 % and 16.6 %, among users and non-users, respectively (p=0.77). Only 38.3 % (n=33) informed their doctor that they were using any kind of herb, 10.4 % (n=9) of users reported adverse effects of herbal medicines. ConclusionsNo association was found between the medicinal plants used by women during pregnancy in western Mexico and the presence of maternal or newborn complications. However, about half of them did not report to their doctor the use of this type of alternative medicine.

Rapid quality evaluation of four kinds of Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata by electronic eye combined with chemometrics.

Polygonum multiflorum Thunb., a widely used herbal medicine, has trouble with the hepatic adverse effect. Processing is an effective method to increase potency and reduce the adverse effects of herbal medicines. Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata (PMRP), the decoction pieces processed from raw material, is widely consumed in clinical practice in many countries. The quality control of PMRP has attracted more and more attention worldwide. A simple and rapid quality evaluation method using an electronic eye (E-eye) combined with chemometrics was proposed for controlling the quality of PMRP. The semi-quantitative and quantitative data of 105 major components in 128 batches of PMRP samples obtained by three different analysis instruments were fused to investigate the correlation with the dynamic exterior colour determined by E-eye. The correlation between exterior colour and chemical fusion dataset was investigated by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and partial least squares regression (PLSR). According to the results of correlation analysis, the color parameters of high-quality PMRP was set. Correlation studies by chemometrics revealed that the exterior colour depth was significantly correlated with 32 components [variable importance in the projection (VIP) > 1.0, p < 0.05]. The colour parameter of located in the range of 46.69-51.66 can be used easily, rapidly, and in an environment-friendly way to determine whether the PMRP sample has reached sufficient processing time with good quality. This study adds some scientific information to our understanding of traditional medicine while contributing an alternative method for assessing the quality of other decoction pieces.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practice of university's employees about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

BackgroundThe use of natural health products has increased globally. It is important to properly regulate these products to guarantee good quality control, ensure consumers' safety, and integrate them into modern medicine. This study was conducted to identify the prevalence of NHP use among university employees in Nineveh Province, Iraq, along with the employees’ awareness, usage patterns, attitudes, and information needs. MethodA cross-sectional study was conducted between 2 October and 6 December 2022 in four main universities (Mosul, Nineveh, Al- Hamdaniya, and Tal-Afar) in Nineveh Province, Iraq. Data were collected face-to-face through an interviewer-administrated structured questionnaire from a multi-stage sampling of employees. Information was gathered using a data collection form and sent to a Microsoft Office Excel® (2010) spreadsheet. Statistical significance was determined using a chi-squared test, with a p-value of less than 0.01 representing a significant finding. ResultsOur results showed that (42.2% of the sample used herbal medications. However, we identified a statistically significant correlation between the female gender and herbal medicine use (p = 0.001). More than half of those surveyed (56%) felt that herbal medicines might be used to prevent and treat sickness, and 49% felt that they were safe to use. A total of 153 people (37.4%) said they felt comfortable combining herbal remedies with conventional treatments. Females were shown to have more knowledge regarding the origin of herbal medicines than males, and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.05). Further, there was a statistically significant difference between the percentage of those with no medical problems and those with chronic diseases who used herbal medicines (p = 0.001). Intriguingly, over half of all respondents (n = 204; 49.9%) initially relied on herbal remedies whenever they fell ill, and nearly as many (n = 172; 42.1%) did not even check with their doctors before using herbal remedies. ConclusionWhen writing prescriptions and delivering medications to patients, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists should take care to inform patients about the effectiveness and adverse effects of herbal medicine (HMs) using evidence-based information. To increase patients’ awareness of pharmaceutical use, patient counselling and education are necessary.

Investigation of the Use of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products for COVID-19 Prevention and Respiratory Symptoms Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sri Lanka

Background: With the lack of specific treatment against COVID-19, Sri Lankans were seeking alternative treatment options such as herbal medicines as preventive measures and treatment options against COVID-19. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of such alternative treatment options usage by Sri Lankans during the pandemic and to assess the self-perceived effectiveness and adverse effects of herbal medicines from the participants’ perception. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among the general public. Data was collected using a questionnaire. A total of 804 participants were included in the study. Descriptive analysis was performed for all variables. A Chi-square test was performed to determine the association between the studied variables. Results: Among the participants, 90.4% reported using herbal medicines as preventive measures against COVID-19, and 86.7% used them to treat respiratory symptoms. Coriander and ginger were the most commonly used medicinal plants as preventives and in the treatment of respiratory symptoms. These herbs were perceived to be effective in alleviating respiratory symptoms by more than 85% of their users. A minority of the consumers (15.4%) experienced adverse effects associated with the use of herbal medicines as preventive measures. The use of herbal medicines as preventive measures was associated with the participant's age (p = 0.032) and education level (p &lt;0.001). Conclusion: The study highlights the perceived effectiveness of some medicinal herbs in treating respiratory symptoms and recommends future research to isolate the compounds with potential pharmacological effects and conduct clinical trials to determine the effectiveness of the most commonly used plants.

Cardiotoxicity Effects of Herbal Medicine, A Review Article

With the development of human's modern society more and more people tend to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Toxicological studies indicated that many herbal medicines have direct toxic effects on the circulatory system or cardiovascular system and cause harmful effects on the body. Cardiotoxicity or heart damage is a serious issue defined as heart electrophysiology dysfunction, affecting the cardiac structure, and muscle damage that arises from the drug or chemical poisoning agents, that may lead to heart failure. The aim of this review article is to provide various information about the potential adverse effects of herbal medicine on the cardiovascular system and introduce herbs that induced cardiac toxicity. To provide this review, all reported cases of cardiac toxicity induced by herbal medicines and natural products were collected through research articles and documents, and the most relevant articles, and books in various authentic search engines including Scopus, PubMed, SID (scientific information database), Science Direct and Google Scholar, from 1984 to April 2022 were searched, and selected herbs with therapeutic properties which induce toxic effects on the cardiovascular system are introduced. In this review, scientific data regarding cardiotoxicity showed that 16 herbs from 11 families may increase cardiac toxicity. Therefore, it's important to use herbal medicines and natural products under the guidance of medical professionals.

The role of herbal medicines in health care quality and the related challenges

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the use of herbal medicines. Quality control and safety are two critical principles to be considered in the production process of herbal medicines. This review study aimed to investigate the condition of the countries other than Iran in terms of observing the safety principles, quality control, and meeting the standard of herbal drug use. In this systematic review, references were selected using the search terms "health-care quality" and "challenges of herbal medicine usage" from the databases "Web of Science" and "PubMed" published between 2000 and 2019. To select the resources among the selected literature, confirmation was accomplished by two researchers and Cohen’s kappa coefficient (κ). The selected papers were classified based on publication year, journal, country, reference standards, regulation, toxicity evaluation, quality control, efficacy, safety, and adverse effects in herbal medicine. From 1532 retrieved papers, 27 papers with an estimated Cohen’s kappa coefficient of 0.81 were confirmed and included in the study. Based on the analysis, the main findings of the papers were thematically classified into seven subcategories as follows: reference standards in herbal medicine, regulation of herbal medicinal products, toxicity evaluation for herbal products, quality control of herbal medicine, efficacy, adverse effects of herbal medicine, and safety. Given the significance of the effects of herbal medicines on health care quality, it is essential to codify guidelines on the proper use of these drugs.

Safety of Herbal Medicines: Clinical and Pharmacological Aspects

Herbal medicines make up a large part of all medicinal products in the Russian market. Complex combinations of biologically active substances that are used as components in herbal medicines not only determine their therapeutic efficacy, but can also cause adverse reactions. The aim of this review was to analyse data on adverse effects of herbal medicines, and reasons and mechanisms behind their development. Special attention should be given to hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic effects of biologically active substances that are used as components in herbal medicines, because liver and kidney failure may lead to life-threatening conditions. The paper addresses hepatic adverse effects, including sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, caused by toxic biologically active substances of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids group. The paper summarises data on herbal medicines and toxic biologically active substances causing acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. It analyses potential clinically significant interactions that may occur during co-use of herbal and other types of medicines due to their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions. Further research involving collection, systematisation, and analysis of adverse effects of herbal medicines used alone or in combination with other medicinal products is needed to improve the safety of pharmacotherapy.

Herbal Medicine for Xerostomia in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Xerostomia (dry mouth) causes many clinical problems, including oral infections, speech difficulties, and impaired chewing and swallowing of food. Many cancer patients have complained of xerostomia induced by cancer therapy. Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to assess the efficacy of herbal medicine for the treatment of xerostomia in cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Randomized controlled trials investigating the use of herbal medicines to treat xerostomia in cancer patients were included. We searched the following 12 databases without restrictions on time or language. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Results: Twenty-five randomized controlled trials involving 1586 patients met the inclusion criteria. A total of 24 formulas were examined in the included trials. Most of the included trials were insufficiently reported in the methodology section. Five formulas were shown to significantly improve the salivary flow rate compared to comparators. Regarding the grade of xerostomia, all formulas with the exception of a Dark Plum gargle solution with normal saline were significantly effective in reducing the severity of dry mouth. Adverse events were reported in 4 trials, and adverse effects of herbal medicine were reported in 3 trials. Conclusions: We found herbal medicines had potential benefits for improving salivary function and reducing the severity of dry mouth in cancer patients. However, methodological limitations and a relatively small sample size reduced the strength of the evidence. More high-quality trials reporting sufficient methodological data are warranted to enforce the strength of evidence regarding the effectiveness of herbal medicines.

Toxicological Effects of Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice): A Review.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) has been considered as an herbal drug since ancient time. Nowadays, it is a well-known spice that possesses worth pharmacological effects. However, some relevant articles have revealed negative impacts of licorice in health. By considering the great wishes in using herbal medicine, it is important to show adverse effects of herbal medicine in health. At present, there are misunderstandings toward the safety of herbal medicines. Herein, we gathered scientific research projects on the toxicity effects of licorice and glycyrrhizin to highlight their safety. In this regards, we categorized our findings about the toxicity effects of licorice and glycyrrhizin in acute, sub-acute, sub-chronic, and chronic states. Besides, we discussed on the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity of licorice and glycyrrhizin as well as their developmental toxicity. This review disclosed that G. glabra and glycyrrhizin salts are moderately toxic. They need to be used with caution during pregnancy. G. glabra and glycyrrhizin possess selective cytotoxic effects on cancerous cells. The most important side effects of licorice and glycyrrhizin are hypertension and hypokalemic-induced secondary disorders. Licorice side effects are increased by hypokalemia, prolonged gastrointestinal transient time, decreased type 2 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activities, hypertension, anorexia nervosa, old age, and female sex. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Safety of Herbal Medicines Use: Case Study of Ikorodu Residents in Lagos, Nigeria

Despite the reported widespread use of herbal medicines globally and their benefits, they are not completely without potential to cause harm. The haphazard, irresponsible or non-regulated use of several herbal medicines may put the health of their users at risk of toxicity. This study aimed to assess the general perception of the safety and occurrence of adverse effects of herbal medicines among residents of Ikorodu in Lagos, Nigeria. The study population included 400 randomly selected and consented residents in Ikorodu. Data was collected using a standard closed and open-ended structured questionnaire with three (3) sections on socio-demography, safety and adverse effects of herbal medicines. Associations between the variables were determined using Chi square analysis. The results showed that 333 respondents (82.4%) believed that herbal medicines are safe for use and only 39 (9.7%) held the view that they may not be safe. RESULTS also show that 51 (12.6%) of respondents had experienced adverse effects while 250 (61.9%) said they had never experienced adverse effects from the use of herbal medicines. Herbal medicine is popular among the respondents but they appear to be ignorant of its potential toxicities. It may be necessary to educate the consumers of herbal medicines on the potentials for herbs-drugs interaction and adverse effects specially as a result of indiscriminate and unguided use of herbal medicines.

Adverse effects of herbal medicines: an overview of systematic reviews

This overview of systematic reviews (SRs) aims to evaluate critically the evidence regarding the adverse effects of herbal medicines (HMs). Five electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant SRs, with 50 SRs of 50 different HMs meeting our inclusion criteria. Most had only minor weaknesses in methods. Serious adverse effects were noted only for four HMs: Herbae pulvis standardisatus, Larrea tridentate, Piper methysticum and Cassia senna. The most severe adverse effects were liver or kidney damage, colon perforation, carcinoma, coma and death. Moderately severe adverse effects were noted for 15 HMs: Pelargonium sidoides, Perna canaliculus, Aloe vera, Mentha piperita, Medicago sativa, Cimicifuga racemosa, Caulophyllum thalictroides, Serenoa repens, Taraxacum officinale, Camellia sinensis, Commifora mukul, Hoodia gordonii, Viscum album, Trifolium pratense and Stevia rebaudiana. Minor adverse effects were noted for 31 HMs: Thymus vulgaris, Lavandula angustifolia Miller, Boswellia serrata, Calendula officinalis, Harpagophytum procumbens, Panax ginseng, Vitex agnus-castus, Crataegus spp., Cinnamomum spp., Petasites hybridus, Agave americana, Hypericum perforatum, Echinacea spp., Silybum marianum, Capsicum spp., Genus phyllanthus, Ginkgo biloba, Valeriana officinalis, Hippocastanaceae, Melissa officinalis, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Lagerstroemia speciosa, Cnicus benedictus, Salvia hispanica, Vaccinium myrtillus, Mentha spicata, Rosmarinus officinalis, Crocus sativus, Gymnema sylvestre, Morinda citrifolia and Curcuma longa. Most of the HMs evaluated in SRs were associated with only moderately severe or minor adverse effects.

Contact allergy and medicinal herbs

Herbal treatments are becoming increasingly popular, and are often used for internal as well as dermatological conditions, both externally as well as orally. The prevalence of contact sensitization against several plants especially of the Compositae family is quite high in Europe. Sensitization seems to occur relatively frequent with a few species such as arnica, elecampane and tea tree (oil), and occurs rarely with the majority. Testing for plant allergy is problematic because of the limited number of commercially available standardized patch test substances and the danger of active sensitization when testing with plants, parts thereof, or individual extracts. Knowledge about the allergic potential of plants is limited. Although plants are regarded as critical allergens by dermatologists, the number of reported cases of contact dermatitis is relatively small. Many widely used substances are not licensed as drugs or cosmetics. While the positive effects are frequently questionable or limited, the side effects are often more evident. Adverse effects of herbal medicines are an important albeit neglected subject in dermatology, which deserves further systematic investigation.

CASSIA SIAMEA INDUCED HEPATITIS, A CASE REPORT OF PHYTOMEDICINE SIDE EFFECT

CASSIA SIAMEA INDUCED HEPATITIS, A CASE REPORT OF PHYTOMEDICINE SIDE EFFECT

Serious psychiatric and neurological adverse effects of herbal medicines -- a systematic review.

Psychiatric and neurological patients frequently try herbal medicines often under the assumption that they are safe. The aim of this systematic review was to provide a summary of recent data on severe psychiatric and neurological adverse effects of herbal remedies. Computerized literature searches were carried out to identify all reports of psychiatric and neurological adverse effects associated with herbal medicines. These data were subsequently extracted, validated and summarized in narrative and tabular form. Numerous case reports comprise a diverse array of adverse events including cerebral arteritis, cerebral oedema, delirium, coma, confusion, encephalopathy, hallucinations, intracerebral haemorrhage, and other types of cerebrovascular accidents, movement disorders, mood disturbances, muscle weakness, paresthesiae and seizures. Several fatalities are on record. They are caused by improper use, toxicity of herbal ingredients, contamination and adulteration of preparations and herb/drug interactions. Herbal medicines can cause serious psychiatric and neurological adverse effects.

Acalculous eosinophilic cholecystitis from herbal medicine: A review of adverse effects of herbal medicine in surgical patients

Surgery 2002;131:352-6.

Monitoring of adverse effects of herbal medicines

Monitoring of adverse effects of herbal medicines

Adverse effects of herbal drugs in dermatology.

Herbal treatments are becoming increasingly popular, and are often used for dermatological conditions. Thus dermatologists should know about their potential to cause adverse events. This review is aimed at addressing this area in a semisystematic fashion. Some agents, particularly Chinese herbal creams, have been shown repeatedly to be adulterated with corticosteroids. Virtually all herbal remedies can cause allergic reactions and several can be responsible for photosensitization. Some herbal medicines, in particular Ayurvedic remedies, contain arsenic or mercury that can produce typical skin lesions. Other popular remedies that can cause dermatological side-effects include St John's Wort, kava, aloe vera, eucalyptus, camphor, henna and yohimbine. Finally, there are some herbal treatments used specifically for dermatological conditions, e.g. Chinese oral herbal remedies for atopic eczema, which have the potential to cause systemic adverse effects. It is concluded that adverse effects of herbal medicines are an important albeit neglected subject in dermatology, which deserves further systematic investigation.