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Herbal remedies

need much more

research

CHAPFI HILL: (North Carolina) Herbal remedies generally are safe, but at least one can cause severe liver damageÑevidence that much more research into the popular products is needed, scientists at an international conference said on Thursday.

The scientists counseled prudence in using herbal medicines because so little is known about them. Nearly a third of the adult U.S. population spends $ 4 billion a year on herbs, which are sold as food rather than regulated drugs.

"Is it a waste of money? Is it dangerous? We don't have enough data to know," said Lenore Arab, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which sponsored the conference.

One of the herbs discussed at the meeting was confrey, a root-derived remedy that is widely available in the United States and is taken for its purported anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

Felix Stickel of the University of Erlangen and Salem Medical Center in Heidelberg, Germany, said the herb should be restricted as it is in Germany and Canada.

Not only are the effects of comfrey unproven in limited clinical studies, it appears to destroy small veins in the liver and can result in abdominal pain, liver enlargement and liver failure, Stickel said.

"It is difficult to understand why comfrey ... is still freely available in the United States," Stickel said.

Other speakers at the conference said many other herbal remedies appear no more dangerous than aspirin, but far less understood.

"We need to convince the producers to put some money into research on these products," said Varro Tyler, an herbal medicine expert at Purdue University.ÑAP