ABSTRACT
Risk groups for herbal drug toxicity or herbal drug + medicine interactions include pregnant and nursing women, infants, children, elderly persons, patients with diseases (such as diabetes, cardiovascular, hepatic, respiratory, and neuropsychiatric disorders), pre-and postoperative cases under other life-sustaining medications (McGregor et al. 1989; Ang-Lee et al. 2001; Hussin 2001; Hailer et al. 2002). Unfortunately, studies on this aspect are scarcely conducted; the increasing use of herbal drugs globally means that the available reports are only a tip of the iceberg. A study by Ang-Lee et al. (2001) on herbal medicines and perioperative care is, particularly, noteworthy. More investigations are warranted to unearth the magnitude and hazards of identications between herbal products and conventional medicines. A case report on a 51-year-old man diagnosed with acute kidney injury with toxic encephalopathy following consumption of herbal juice from the raw tubers of Dioscorea quinqueloba was recently reported. Such serious adverse effect-causing medicines need to be classied as prescription drug requiring stringent regulation (Kang and Heo 2015). A recent research on PubMed revealed that at least 65 commonly used herbs, herbal drugs, and supplements and 111 herbs or herbal mixtures of traditional Chinese medicine have been reported to cause hepatotoxicity or liver disease, necessitates stricter regulatory surveillance for herbal drugs (Teschke and Eickhoff 2015).
