Clinical aspects of herb-drug interactions

Increasing and ready availability of herbal remedies and supplements may be meeting the almost overwhelming public demand for them but it has also exposed the issue of herb-drug interactions, an area that suffers from a lack of rigorous study and discussion within the scientific community. Existing figures on interactions are scant and mostly limited to data from animal studies. This is compounded by the lack of legal measures and controls over the prescribing of herbal medicines and the fact that not all patients inform their health practitioner of concomitant administration, a practice which only increases the risk of herb-drug interactions. Changing the public perception that herbs are safe at any dose is strongly needed as well as a forum for open, honest dialogue and the sharing of vital information between conventional doctors, allied health practitioners, patients and medical herbalists.

Read the full article here: herb-drug-interactions

Primary Health Care 2005; 15(7):24-25

Primary Health Care Journal is a Royal College of Nursing Publication