Herbs, problems with

HERBS THAT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS WITH LONG-TERM USE... 

A problem with the medicinal use of plants and herbs is that substitutions can occur, inadvertently or on purpose, hi addition, the herbal activity of a given species may vary with the geographic location, the season, and sometimes even with the time of day. Furthermore, the bioactive substance will usually concentrate in a particular plant part, such as the leaf or root, although it may occur in a much lesser degree throughout the plant... 

Another problem with plants and herbs is that there are many chemical constituents present, some of which are more bioactive than others. It becomes difficult or impossible to discern the action of each chemical constituent, which is compounded by the fact that the chemical compositions may vary from plant to plant, and from plant part to plant part, depending on a number of factors. Only if the pure compounds are isolated and tested can a consensus be reached. This is an argument in favor of synthetic drugs, in that quality control can be maintained, and controlled testing can be performed. All of these can become a monumental task. 

There are many reviews of the effect of various herhal medicines on warfarin. Most of these include interactions based on theoretical data, based on the knowledge that a plant has been shown to contain antiplatelet substances or coumarins. The problem with these lists is that a suggested interaction might never be clinically relevant if, for example, the coumarins present are found not to be anticoagulants, or the substances are found in such small quantities and the herb cannot be ingested in sufficient amounts to cause an interaction. With natural substances, there is also the problem of chemical variations between batches of product if they are not standard-... 

Government agencies have never had sufficient resources to cope with the enormous amount of deception in the marketing of herbs, dietary supplements, and homeopathic products. Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act made the problem worse. Without an adequate law, the FDA cannot curb the deceptive marketing of what DSHEA calls dietary supplements. Regulators have the power to ban homeopathic remedies but have shown no interest in doing so. 

Herbs are easy plants to grow, beautiful to look at and, in many cases, free from pest and disease problems. Growing them yourself means that you can have fresh supplies available when you need them, and using organic methods means you can be sure they have not been treated with pesticides. 

Heavy kava users have also been observed to lose weight and have low plasma protein levels and low platelet and lymphocyte counts. Pulmonary hypertension and shortness of breath have rarely occurred. Kava should be avoided in pregnant women and children, since the consequences of use are unknown. A recent cause for concern is an uncommon idiosyncratic fiver toxicity associated with kava use in some cases, this has been severe enough to warrant fiver transplantation. It is unclear whether kava alone is to blame, but the safety of this herb is under review. Several European countries, where this problem was first reported, have either suspended sales or are acting to make kava a prescription drug. 

Salvia divinorum as an herb can be used quite safely and many people claim that it has proved beneficial to them. Hopefully there will not be a rush to isolate the pure compound as it is almost inevitable that it will cause problems, people will get hurt, the compound and possibly the plant will get negative attention and it will become scheduled. We will just be adding one more potentially valuable plant ally to the list of species which are already feared and condemned in our society. If you choose to pursue a relationship with this plant please treat it with respect and care. Perhaps if people can use the plant safely and responsibly it will be able to grow and thrive freely into the future. 

Beyond these risks, bitter orange also may carry unique dangers because of its effects on metabolism. A 2004 article in OB/GYN News warns that taking the herb can interfere with the body s ability to effectively make use of medications. "This introduces a whole new set of problems aside from the stimulant effects," Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen s Health Research Group, told OB/GYN News. "We certainly would not recommend that anyone use this."... 

Tannins. Herb Hergert s introduction (Chapter 12) to the use of condensed tannins in adhesives is especially interesting because he provides some reasons why commercial success is lacking in the use of condensed tannins from conifer barks despite substantial effort worldwide to parallel the South African success in the use of wattle tannins. Much of the problem in the use of conifer bark tannins remains centered on our inadequate understanding of the fundamental chemistry of these polymers. For example, Lawrence Porter (Chapter 13) provided the first measurements of the viscosities of solutions of purified condensed tannin isolates of known molecular weight and the reactions of these polymers with formaldehyde. It is incredible that this has not been done previously considering the hundreds of papers that have been published on tannin use in wood adhesives. Further evidence for the comparatively limited knowledge... 

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