Many people who rely on traditional Chinese medicine to treat aches and pains believe that even if the treatment turns out to be ineffective, it is at least harmless.
However, that is not necessarily true, as highlighted in a recent case study published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
The report, written by medical students Amelia Breyer and Dr. Judith Green McKenzie from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, describes how a 26-year-old man, a graduate student at the university, developed severe symptoms. This explains whether or not the patient developed the disease. While on vacation in India, he was treated for back pain with four types of Ayurvedic herbal medicine, which led to lead poisoning. He continued to take medication after returning to Pennsylvania.
Within three months, the student visited the hospital emergency room complaining of severe upper abdominal pain. He told doctors that for about two weeks he had been experiencing a loss of appetite, weight loss and dark colored stools. During the past 24 hours, he was also nauseous and was vomiting blood.
The student was admitted to the hospital and underwent a series of tests. His one of the tests revealed that his blood lead level (BLL) was 94.8 ug/dL. According to the New York State Department of Health, a typical BLL for an adult in the United States is less than 10 ug/dL, and a BLL greater than 80 ug/dL is considered “very dangerous.”
The student was given the drug Succimer, which helps remove lead from the body. He was also told to stop taking Ayurvedic medicines.
Within 3 months his symptoms disappeared. He remained asymptomatic 3 years later, and his blood lead level decreased to less than 20 μg/dL.
many other things happening
This is not a special case. As Breyer and Green-Mackenzie point out in their paper, complementary and alternative medicine, particularly Ayurvedic herbal preparations, have been implicated in many cases of lead poisoning around the world, including here in the United States.
In a 2015 study, researchers tested the blood of 115 U.S. users of Ayurvedic herbal medicine and found that 46 (40%) of them tested positive for lead poisoning. Several other clusters of lead poisoning have occurred among people taking Ayurvedic medicines in the past decade, including six cases among pregnant women in New York City in 2011-2012. This also includes the occurrence of.
Here in Minnesota, state health officials have reported several cases in recent years of high levels of lead and mercury in the blood of Minnesota children returning from visits to India; It dates back to Vedic herbal remedies.
2000 years ago
Why are Ayurvedic herbal medicines, used in India for more than 2,000 years, likely to contain lead and other toxic metals? Breyer and Green-McKenzie explain: I am.
In Ayurveda, Rasashastra is a subdivision that deals with the study of metals and minerals. Metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic are used as adjuncts in major herbal remedies for many chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, insomnia, and asthma. Metals are thought to exert their own therapeutic effects, enhance the efficacy of other drugs, and facilitate drug delivery to target sites.
Indications for therapeutic use of lead in Ayurveda include treatment of diabetes and parasites. It is also used as an aphrodisiac. The actual doses of metals used are based on recommendations found in ancient Ayurvedic texts. It is estimated to be around 35-40%. [about] 6,000 medicines in the Ayurvedic formulary intentionally contain at least one metal.
That percentage appears to be only slightly higher than here in the United States. In 2004, researchers found that 20 percent of Ayurvedic herbal medicines produced in South Asia and sold in the Boston area contained potentially toxic levels of lead, mercury, and/or arsenic. I estimated that.
dangerous beliefs
Never assume that an herbal remedy is safe just because it is “traditional.” Over the past 2,000 years, we have learned a lot about the human body. These include the fact that many “natural” elements, such as lead, can cause devastating harm.
Also keep in mind that, as I have previously pointed out here, the essentially unregulated herbal supplement industry is rife with questionable practices, including outright fraud.
For example, a study published in 2013 found that many herbal products sold as alternative medicine in the United States were contaminated with products not listed on the label.
The herbal products industry “suffers from unethical practices by some manufacturers, including false advertising, product substitution, contamination, and the use of fillers,” the study’s authors concluded.
To keep you and your family safe, the Minnesota Department of Health recommends the following:
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Talk to your health care provider about any herbal or Ayurvedic medicines you are taking.
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Show your health care provider the medicines you are taking, including the labels.
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Think carefully about each herbal medicine and whether it will help you.
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Understand the ingredients in the herbal medicine you take and make sure you can trust that the product is free of lead, arsenic, and mercury.
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Be especially careful when administering the drug to young children and pregnant women.
FMI: The case study report can be read on the BMJ Case Reports website.
