Article: Drug-Herb Interactions

\”To optimize the use of herbal medicines, further controlled studies are urgently needed to
explore their potential for interactions with conventional drugs and to delineate the underlying mechanisms\”, (Shi, S, & Klotz, U 2012, pg.2)

Link to Article:  Drug and herbal interactions article

This is a really interesting and well-outlined article giving an in-depth view of drug-herb, based on liver-enzymes, interactions.  I really liked the summary of interactions from pages 5 to 9, which included the liver enzymes acted upon, and if they were inhibitory, additive or inductive responses.  This article is pretty heavy with scientific jargon, but very informative non-the-less, just try not to get caught-up in the enzyme short-hand, as it is not that important for the general consumer to know this kind of detail.  I particularly thought it was interesting that there has been a significant amount of studies done of St. John\’s Wort and drug-herb interactions.

\”The clinical implications of any drug interaction depend on
a variety of factors, such as co-administered drugs, the health
status of the patients, the composition of the herbal medicine
and the applied dosage regimens\”, (Shi, S, & Klotz, U 2012,  pg.19)

Ref:

Picture:  http://wesharepics.info/imagedgkl-drug-herb-interactions.asp

Article:  Shi, S, & Klotz, U 2012, \’Drug Interactions with Herbal Medicines\’,  Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 51, 2, pp. 77-104, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 March 2016.