The widely used herbal antidepressant kava is damaging to the liver.
Pregnant women should avoid most herbal remedies because of pesticides
and preservatives required in the growth and storage of the herbs. Most
ayurvedic medicines contain unacceptable levels of lead and other heavy
metals. St. John's Wort could complicate any chronic medical condition.
Many people see herbal remedies as natural and therefore safe, but in
Prescription or Poison? Dr. Amitava Dasgupta explains that one of his
first pharmacology professors taught him that medicine is just another
word for poison and all medicines of any kind should be treated with
great caution. This book, written for the layperson but based on solid
science and research, explains how toxic many alternative remedies can
be, alone or in combination with widely prescribed drug treatments. He
includes detailed information on the proper use of alternative medicines
and their history of good results, while also cautioning readers in this
wake-up call about the casual, often uninformed, and sometimes damaging
use of alternative remedies.