It is estimated that the U.S. population spends between $4 billion and $5 billion annually on herbal medicines. (1,2) Between 1990 and 1997, the use of herbal remedies in the U. S. population increased from 2.5% in 1990 to 12.1% in 1997. (1) In 1998, it was estimated that 15 million adults concurrently take herbal remedies and vitamins along with prescription medications. (1) In addition, patie...

Ten years have passed since Directive 2004/24/EC regulating herbal medicinal products across the EU were published. The directive created the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products within the European Medicines Agency whose remit includes the creation and publishing of official EU monographs on herbal medicinal products. These monographs include the official uses of the products and their evide...

BACKGROUND Little is known about use of herbal medicines by older Mexican Americans. The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics among older Mexican Americans that correlate with use of herbal medicines. METHODS We administered a cross-sectional regional sample survey, the 1993-1994 Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly of Mexican Ame...

Herbal-based remedies are widely used as alternative treatments for a number of ailments. In addition, the use of products that contain both single and multiple herbal constituents is becoming increasingly common. The work described in this report examined the in vitro drug interaction potential for a commonly used herbal cold remedy reported to contain a mixture of eight herbal components. Exp...

Backgrounds and aims: Recently, herbal extracts attracted attention in various medical fields, including treatment of problematic wounds and dermatology. Based on these lines, this study was planned to investigate the antibacterial, antioxidant and epidermal keratinocyte growth stimulation of herbal extracts in the HEK cell lines. Methods: MTT viability test and BrdU Cell Proliferation Assay we...

An increasing number of people in the western world are using traditional Chinese herbal medicines. There are concerns that these Chinese medicines may contain potentially toxic ingredients and contaminants such as heavy metals. Undeclared conventional western drugs such as the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antihistamine drugs, steroids and oral hypoglycaemic agents are frequently added t...

BACKGROUND Improving maternal and child health is one of the public health priorities in several African countries including Ethiopia. However, research on herbal medicine use during pregnancy is scarce in Ethiopia. The present study aimed at assessing the prevalence and correlates of herbal medicine use among pregnant women on antenatal care (ANC) follow-up at Gondar university referral hospit...

BACKGROUND According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 80 % of the population living in rural areas in developing countries depends on traditional medicine for their health needs, including use during pregnancy. Despite the fact that knowledge of potential side effects of many herbal medicines in pregnancy is limited and that some herbal products may be teratogenic, data on the exte...

BACKGROUND The use of herbal medicine has been on increase in many developing and industrialized countries. More pregnant women use herbal remedies to treat pregnancy related problems due to cost-effectiveness of therapy and easy access of these products. We sought to assess the prevalence of herbal medicine use and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics of public h...