Naturopathic doctors and other “alternative medicine” gurus love to tout the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine. For example, Aviva, a Yale-educated doctor who publicly defended Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle site Goop, later calling it “a satire of all things alternative medicine for women.” Rom sells his own unproven herbal remedies. Billionaire Susan Samueli, who along with her husband donated $200 million to help the University of California, Irvine open an “integrative” medicine program, promotes homeopathy and naturopathy, and is an active consultant with expertise in herbal medicine. conducting business.
Herbal remedies are often seen as harmless, calming treatments that draw on the ancient wisdom of traditional healing. While that may be true for some people, others cause cancer, and in some cases, it’s nearly impossible to tell one from the other.
According to a study published Wednesday, science translational medicine, Traditional ingredients of Chinese herbal medicine used throughout Asia are widely implicated in liver cancer in Asia. For example, in Taiwan, 78 percent of 98 liver tumors sampled showed a pattern of mutations consistent with exposure to herbs containing aristolochic acid (AA). These are carcinogenic ingredients found in a variety of centuries-old herbal medicines that are said to treat everything from snakebites to gout, asthma, and pain.
Because they are toxic, some are (not) all) Herbs and plants known to contain AA are banned in Taiwan and elsewhere. These flora tend to come from the following genera: Umanosuzukusa (for examplebirth flower, pipevine) and Asarum (wild ginger). The Food and Drug Administration has also issued several warnings and advisories regarding treatments containing AA.
However, it’s still easy to buy online. Additionally, many herbs containing AA may be hidden, mislabeled, or not clearly labeled in traditional formulations. Studies conducted on products found to contain AA have shown that AA levels can be highly variable and, in some cases, very high.
In 2000, Belgian doctors reported that around 100 women receiving herbal medicine treatment at a weight loss clinic in Brussels experienced kidney failure, and many went on to develop bladder and urinary tract cancers. did. As a result of research, doctors found that herbs containing AA Umanosuzukusa It was replaced by treatment.
“Our findings support the idea that the use of natural herbal medicines is not without risks,” the Belgian doctors concluded. They also noted that similar cases have been reported in France, Spain, Japan, the United Kingdom and Taiwan.
harmful herbs
AAs promote cancer almost exclusively by inducing adenine-to-thymine (A-to-T) mutations in DNA. Tumors can develop when such mutations occur in genes known to have the potential to cause cancer. In a new study led by Stephen G. Rosen, a computational biology and cancer researcher at Duke-NUS School of Medicine in Singapore, researchers found mutations associated with AA in a variety of these types of genes. They also found that some mutations can inactivate other genes, which can promote cancer by “diverting energy to cancer-related metabolic pathways.” To find out how widespread AA-related cancers are, Rosen and his colleagues collected tumor tissue samples from liver cancer patients. Samples were not selected based on suspicion that patients were taking herbal medicines. They were just a convenience sample. The researchers then sequenced the DNA of the cancer cells and compared them to matched healthy liver tissue. The researchers used a set of genetic codes to look for patterns of mutations associated with AA. These patterns are mainly based on previous studies on the mutational signatures induced by AA.
Map showing the prevalence of aristolochic acid-related cancers around the world.
Researchers found that 76 of 98 (78%) liver tumor samples taken from Taiwan had signs of AA exposure. Of the 89 patients from China, 42 (47 percent) showed signs of AA-induced mutations. Of 231 samples from South Korea, 29 (13%) showed signs of his AA exposure. The proportion of samples taken from Japan, Europe, and North America was much smaller, ranging from just 1 percent to almost 5 percent. However, 21 percent of 89 liver cancer samples taken from Asian patients at the Mayo Clinic in the US also showed signs of AA exposure.
Given the data, Rosen and his colleagues argue that patients and the public need to be educated about the risks of herbal medicines, including AA. However, they point out that that may not be enough.
Additionally, traditional nomenclature is confusing, making it difficult for consumers and suppliers to verify plant identification and ingredients in multiple herbal preparations. There is sufficient evidence that misrepresentations are common.
This suggests that more testing and regulatory oversight may be needed to protect consumers.
scientific translational medicine, 2017. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan6446 (About DOI).
