Liver Diseases and Adverse Reactions Induced by Medicinal Herbs and Herb-Drug Interactions

Abstract

Integrative medicine encompasses several modalities of complementary and alternative medicine, of which the most relevant is the herbal medicine. Herbal formulations contain multiple pharmacologically active phytochemicals with isolated active compounds usually can achieve better therapeutic performance. In general, herbal medicines are believed to be more effective and safer than prescription drugs. Prescription drugs are approved and licensed only after well regulated clinical trials have been carried out, but a majority of marketed herbal products remain non-regulated without evidence of efficacy and safety. In this article, we review the potential risk of liver diseases or other organ toxicity related to herbs or the combined use of herb and drug. This article also discusses certain medicinal herbs as well as hepatotoxicy and adverse reactions induced by herb-drug interactions in liver disease patients.