ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Some 15 million Americans are taking herbal supplements that may contain ingredients that are potentially harming their liver, according to new research by the University of Michigan.
Those supplements include turmeric, green tea, ashwagandha, black cohosh, garcinia cambogia and red yeast rice containing products. The supplements are marketed to help with a variety of health problems, such as boosting energy, losing weight, easing menopause symptoms, and improving joint health.
The problem is these supplements are not regulated by the FDA in the same way that pharmaceutical drugs are.
Dr. Robert Fontana and Dr. Alisa Likhitsup are hepatologists, or liver specialists, at U-M Health.
“A botanical product is an over-the-counter product that contains ingredients that are derived from plants, plant roots, plant leaves. And so the issue with those is that it can oftentimes be variable from batch to batch, and oftentimes we don’t know exactly what’s in each particular botanical which leads to some potential risk to the general public,” said Fontana.
In another study, researchers found that a supplement’s actual ingredients matched what the label said only half the time.
“We have seen patients with liver damages because they were taking these supplements, and some cases were fatal, like required liver transplantation. And we have found that millions of Americans are taking these supplements, and they are not aware about the ingredients that could potentially damage the liver,” said Likhitsup.
Fontana said they are not trying create alarm, but do want to raise awareness about the potential risk these supplements can pose and the importance of sharing any supplements that you take with your health care provider.