ABSTRACT
The most popular herb sales in the United States include Echinacea (10%), garlic (10%), goldenseal* (7%), ginseng (6%), Ginkgo (4.5%), and saw palmetto (4.4%). [* Goldenseal is often used illicitly in unsuccessful attempts to disguise urinary marijuana (THC) metabolites.] There are no toxicologic databases on herbal and vitamin toxicity in the United States. In Hong Kong, herbal medicine toxicity accounts for less than 1% of all acute hospital admissions, and Western medicine toxicity and drug-drug interactions account for 4.4% of all acute hospital admissions. Fatalities have resulted from megadoses of the fat-soluble and lipophilic (stored in liver and brain) vitamins A, D, and E; and “therapeutic” (homeopathic) doses of niacin and tryptophan.
