Herbal slimming formulations or remedies interact with antiretroviral therapy

Herbal slimming formulations or remedies interact with antiretroviral therapy

Many slimming products are complex mixtures of herbs that contain organic compounds that may induce or inhibit drug metabolising enzymes (e.g. cytochrome P450) and drug transporters (e.g. P-glycoprotein). These interactions may reduce or increase serum antiretroviral drug concentrations. Subtherapeutic antiretroviral drug levels in patients lead to suboptimal viral control whilst increased conc...

Herbal remedies and anticoagulant therapy.

Herbal remedies, considered to be both safe and effective by most consumers, may interact with conventional drugs. Warfarin, a vitamin K antagonist originally derived from the sweet clover plant, has a narrow therapeutic window which can be monitored using prothrombin international normalized ratios (PT-INR). Many herbs can increase the risk for bleeding when combined with warfarin, either by a...

Herbal remedies for acne

Acne represents a significant challenge to dermatologists because of its prevalence, complexity and range of clinical expression. It is the single most common skin disease affecting 85% of teenage boys and 80% of teenage girls and can continue throughout adulthood. Treatment of acne with topical and systemic allopathic medicines results in mild to severe side effects. Hence, herbs and herbal pr...

Hepatotoxicity of herbal remedies.

The hepatotoxic effects of conventional drugs are well recognised, but herbal medicines are often assumed to be harmless and are advertised as such. The error of this assumption has recently received attention in the press,' but we think that doctors are not sufficiently aware of the potential toxicity of herbal medicines. We report on four women, three from Edinburgh and one from Tyneside, who...

[Hepatotoxicity associated with the consumption of herbal slimming products].