The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety

The most thorough, authoritative textbook on herbal safety available!

Simon Y Mills (Author), Kerry Bone (Author)

9780443071713, Elsevier Health Sciences

Hardback, published 8 February 2005

704 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 3.7 cm, 1.51 kg

"As more people are using herbs, either prescribed or self-prescribed, it is useful to have this information in your office in an easily accessible format. I recommend it." Complementary Medicine, September / October 2005

Winner of American Botanical Council's 2005 James A. Duke Botanical Literature Award, the Essential Guide to Herbal Safety offers a balanced and objective perspective on the principles of herbal medicine safety as well as the complex challenges relating to self-prescribed or professionally prescribed herbal medications and supplements. With contributions from leading international practitioners and authorities, it contains comprehensive reviews, in monograph format, of the published safety data for 125 common herbs. You'll also find coverage of issues of quality, interactions, adverse reactions, toxicity, allergy, contact sensitivity, and idiosyncratic reactions.

• Provides the most current information on safety issues in herbal medicine.
• Presents authoritative and credible safety information from two experienced herbal practitioners.
• Combines theoretical chapters with 125 well-researched monographs, making it the most thorough and comprehensive text on the market for herbal safety in practice.
• Provides clear information using the most current evidence-based reviews, covering factors that influence herb safety, including the negative placebo effects (nocebo), various types of unpredictable effects, the basis for interactions between herbs and drugs, and quality issues.
• Uses an established grading system for assessing safety in pregnancy and lactation that is realistic and appropriate to herb use.
• Thoroughly critiques the dominant misinformation in the media and medical journals on herb safety issues.
• Contains 83 documented case studies on hepatoxicity and the effects in relation to kava. Kava safety is a hot topic.
• Includes two useful appendices detailing herbal references for pregnancy and lactation considerations.

Part 1 Safety issues
1. Introduction: what is herb safety?
Simon Mills
2. Adverse effects of herbal remedies – the case to answer
Dr Debbie Shaw
3. The adverse placebo effect and transient treatment reactions
Simon Mills
4. Idiosyncratic drug reactions
Simon Mills
5. Human-plant interactions
Simon Mills
6. Adverse herb-drug interactions (AHDI)
Kerry Bone, Simon Mills and Michelle Morgan and Berris Burgoyne
7. Safety considerations during pregnancy and lactation
Kerry Bone
8. The impact of quality issues on the safety of herbal products
Kerry Bone
9. Safety concerns involving Chinese herbal medicine
Trina Ward
10. Allergic reactions to herbal medicines
Professor Stephen Myers and Hans Wohlmuth
11. Pharmacovigilance of herbal medicines
Dr. Joanne Barnes
12. Kava: a risk-benefit assessment
Dr. Mathias Schmidt, Michelle Morgan, Kerry Bone, and Janice McMillan

Part 2 Safety Monographs

Appendix A: Herb Listing by Pregnancy and Lactation Categories
Appendix B: Pregnancy and Lactation Categories Listing by Herb

Subject Areas: Traditional medicine & herbal remedies [VXHT], Pharmacology [MMG], General practice [MBPC]