Herbal and other dietary supplements are popular among patients. Whether and how to establish and manage an herbal formulary remains a challenge for conventional managed-care organizations. Pharmacists and clinicians depend on evidence-based guidelines to help determine which products (whether pharmaceutical or herbal) to make available to patients. Evidence from randomized controlled trials th...

Millions of Americans regularly use herbal supplements, but many are unaware of the potential hidden dangers. Numerous supplements have been associated with hepatotoxicity and, indeed dietary/herbal supplements represent an increasingly common source of acute liver injury. We report a case of acute liver failure requiring liver transplantation associated with the use of Garcinia cambogia, a sup...

Herbal drugs are increasingly being used in our setting as an alternative to, or to supplement, the conventional medication used in sleep disorders. By reviewing different herbal drugs, a description of their therapeutic and adverse effects is established in order to recognise them in a sleep unit and thus be able to establish a more effective approach to them.

Herbal dietary supplements are often considered by patients to be safe and free from side effects. The case described here shows digoxin toxicity in a patient taking a dietary supplement not normally considered to contain digoxin. In addition to highlighting the risks of herbal supplements, this case also demonstrates the concept that digoxin equivalents are not picked up by the standard digoxi...

Basic information on seniors' use of supplements is lacking. In this study, a convenience sample of community-living older adults (n = 128) was recruited from 10 sites to determine the prevalence, frequency, duration and type of supplement use. Use information, demographics and medical/nutritional history were collected with an interview-administered questionnaire. Supplement use included both ...

This study investigated the antioxidative effect of rooibos herbal tea and a rooibos-derived commercial supplement on tert-butyl hydroperoxide- (t-BHP-) induced oxidative stress in the liver. Forty male Wistar rats consumed fermented rooibos, unfermented rooibos, a rooibos-derived commercial supplement, or water for 10 weeks, while oxidative stress was induced during the last 2 weeks via intrap...

BACKGROUND Herbal and dietary supplements are commonly used throughout the World. There is a tendency for underreporting their ingestion by patients and the magnitude of their use is underrecognised by Physicians. Herbal hepatotoxicity is not uncommonly encountered, but the precise incidence and manifestations have not been well characterised. AIMS To review the epidemiology, presentation and...

OBJECTIVE To determine the extent to which differences in sociodemographic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics exist between users of different types of dietary supplements and supplement non-users. DESIGN We analysed cross-sectional data obtained from self-administered questionnaires completed at baseline by participants in The Tomorrow Project; a prospective cohort study in Alberta, Cana...