Natural Products and Safety Issues

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health sent this bulletin at 12/02/2015 12:18 PM EST

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Natural products such as herbal medicines or botanicals are often sold as dietary supplements and are readily available to consumers; however, there is a lot we don’t know about the safety of many of these products.

Two of the main safety concerns for dietary supplements are:
—The possibilities of drug interactions—for example, research has shown that St. John’s wort interacts with drugs such as antidepressants in ways that can interfere with their intended effects

—The possibilities of product contamination—supplements have been found to contain hidden prescription drugs or other compounds, particularly in dietary supplements marketed for weight loss, sexual health including erectile dysfunction, and athletic performance or body-building.

As with any treatment, it’s important to consider safety before using complementary health products and practices. Read more at https://nccih.nih.gov/health/safety.“


Additionally…
Dietary Supplements Land Thousands in the ER Each Year
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_155144.html
Side effects from dietary supplements send more than 20,000 Americans to the emergency room each year, a new government study reveals.

Safe Use of Complementary Health Products and Practices

Excerpt from NIH article, dated Sept 27, 2017

“As with any treatment, it is important to consider safety before using complementary health products and practices. Safety depends on the specific therapy, and each complementary product or practice should be considered on its own.”

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Two of the main safety concerns for dietary supplements are

• The possibilities of drug interactions—for example, research has shown that St. John’s wort interacts with drugs such as antidepressants in ways that can interfere with their intended effects
• The possibilities of product contamination—supplements have been found to contain hidden prescription drugs or other compounds, particularly in dietary supplements marketed for weight loss, sexual health including erectile dysfunction, and athletic performance or body-building.Two of the main safety concerns for dietary supplements are
  • The possibilities of drug interactions—for example, research has shown that St. John’s wort interacts with drugs such as antidepressants in ways that can interfere with their intended effects
  • The possibilities of product contamination—supplements have been found to contain hidden prescription drugs or other compounds, particularly in dietary supplements marketed for weight loss, sexual health including erectile dysfunction, and athletic performance or body-building.”

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How Safe Is This Product or Practice?

Find safety information from a list of complementary health products and practices

Find FDA and FTC notices about recalls, tainted products, and other alerts and advisories