Herbal products may have side-effects

Herbal products are meant to be safe and healthy, but  a recent research  at the University of Leeds has found that the commonly used remedies such as Asia ginseng, echinacea, ginkgo, garlic and St John’s wort can be as strong as the allopathic medications.

St John’s wort , reduces the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill and also affect the warfarin, a medicine used to treat blood clotting.Echinacea and ginkgo causes allergic reactions while Asian ginseng is not good for diabetics.

Garlic also causes problem like, thinning of blood and  meddle with the drugs used to treat HIV.

Theo Raynor, who led the study from University of Leeds says ” Consumers need reliable and good information when buying herbal remedies.”

The research was done on 68 bought different formulations from two well known health food stores, supermarkets and 3 large chain pharmacies.It was found that 93% of the products were unlicensed and more than half were marketed as food supplements.

Only a small number of herbal products contains the required information, out of which only three consist of acceptable amount of safety information.

“The information here is for general purpose please consult your doctor before taking any medication/therapy.”