For consumers who want to lose weight, using a product claiming to make that weight loss easier may be an attractive option. Herbal products are often perceived as safe because they are ‘natural’. However, these products are not free of risks. Herbal products themselves can be a cause of adverse drug reactions but these products can also be adulterated with active pharmacological ingredients. A...

Green tea extract is a popular ingredient in herbal weight loss supplements. There have been reports of hepatotoxicity associated with the use of dietary supplements, some of these cases lead to fatal outcomes. To our knowledge, we report the first case of fulminant hepatic failure requiring orthotopic liver transplantation caused by SlimQuick™ (Wellnx Life Sciences, Wilmington, DE), a widely a...

In Malaysia, Vernonia cinerea IS a commonly found weed. It is reported to have sedative actions and as such is included in several traditional herbal preparations used for insomnia and related ailments (Majallah Tamat Latehan Sinseh China, 1976). Most preparations of Vernonia cinerea are concoctions where the plant is boiled in water. Any active ingredient is therefore presumably water soluble ...

Herbal medicine is a major component of complementary and alternative medicine, contributing significantly to the health of many people and communities. Quality control of herbal medicine is crucial to ensure that it is safe and sound for use. Here, we investigated a comprehensive quality evaluation system for a classic herbal medicine, Danggui Buxue Formula, by applying genetic-based and analy...

In the past decades, the use of traditional medicine has increased globally, leading to a booming herbal medicine and dietary supplement industry. The increased popularity of herbal products has led to a rise in demand for botanical raw materials. Accurate identification of medicinal herbs is a legal requirement in most countries and prerequisite for delivering a quality product that meets cons...

OBJECTIVE To describe a patient with erhythema and edema after Radix Astragali was added to a kampo formula. CASE SUMMARY A 21-year-old male, who was diagnosed as having atopic dermatitis in 1989, demonstrated systemic dry eruptions and consulted our department for treatment with traditional herbal medicine (THM) in 2004. The oral administration of herbal medicine resulted in decreased sympto...

BACKGROUND Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a class of the most commonly used medicines and proven to be effective for certain disorders. Some people use NSAIDs on daily basis for preventive purpose. But a variety of severe side effects can be induced by NSAIDs. Studies have shown that edible natural ingredients exhibit preventive benefit of gastric ulcer. This paper reviews th...

Like chemical drugs, research and development of herbal medicine also have a need to resolve enantiomers. To help illustrating the antiviral bioactivity of Isatidis Radix, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) was used for analytical and preparative separation of (R,S)-goitrin, which was reported as the active ingredient of the herbal. Improv...

A 49-year-old woman presented with an eczematous reaction on her hands that which had appeared 5 days previously. To treat her wrist sprain, she had applied hot compresses with a herbal water decoction of multi-ingredient formulations on her hands for half an hour, and bathed her hands in this decoction for another 20min. After 1 day, her hands became erythematous, with burning and itching (Fig...