United States: While herbal supplements are considered “natural,” they are not considered to be safe and don’t need to be reviewed and approved by the US.
More about the news
Presently, a new study by University of Michigan researchers shows that an estimated 15.6 million U.S. adults – about 5 percent have taken at least one herbal supplement in the previous 30 days that may or may not be damaging to their liver or hepatotoxic.
How was the research conducted?
For this analysis, researchers looked at data from more than nine thousand American adults, averaging 47.5 years old, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Trusted Source between 2017 and 2020.
The effects of herbal supplements and certain herbs can interfere with medications they are currently taking.
Scientists also focused on the study of the participants who were using six herbal supplements considered from past research to be potentially hepatotoxicTrusted Source:
- ashwagandha
- black cohoshTrusted Source
- Garcinia cambogiaTrusted Source
- green tea extract
- red yeast rice
- turmeric or curcumin
According to Alisa Likhitsup, MD, MPH, who is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Michigan and lead author of this study explained to Medical News Today, “Potentially hepatotoxic botanical products are the products that contain plant-based ingredients which have been implicated as potential causes of liver damage,” MedicalNewsToday reported.
Findings of the study
In conclusion, Likhitsup and her team discovered that almost 58 percent of all the participants had reported using an herbal or dietary supplement at least once in a thirty-day period.
About 5 percent of participants reported having taken at least one of the six potentially hepatotoxic botanicals within the past 30 days.
When the whole U.S. population is taken into account, that percentage is about 15.6 million adults.
Researchers say this potentially hepatotoxic use is similar to what is estimated for people taking potentially hepatotoxic drugs, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and a drug for lowering bad cholesterol called simvastatinTrusted Source.
Moreover, as Likhitsup added, “We hope our results will increase awareness among patients and providers about these potentially liver toxic ingredients being consumed regularly among Americans and the dietary supplement products available in the market are not strictly regulated,” Medical News Today reported.