Risk in mixing drugs with herbal cures

THOSE taking drugs such as statins or anti-depressants or patients undergoing cancer therapy should avoid herbal medicines because they can cause dangerous reactions, scientists have warned.

Analysis of drug trial databases by the South African Medical Research Council, published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacolog y, found 28 per cent of people who reported taking a herbal treatment alongside prescribed medication had a worrying reaction.

Patients taking warfarin and statins for the management of cardiovascular complications reported clinically significant interactions after combination with herbal products including sage, flaxseed, St John’s wort, cranberry, goji juice, green tea and chamomilla.

Other potentially dangerous reactions were also seen in people taking anti-depressants and cancer therapies.

“Intake of herbal medicines and prescribed medications is a common practice especially in patients with hypertension, diabetes, cancer, seizures and depression,” said Dr Charles Awortwe, the lead author of the report.

Britain’s first professor of complementary medicine, Emeritus Professor Edzard Ernst of Exeter University, said that doctors should make it clear to patients that they should not be taking herbal remedies alongside drugs.