Side‐effects of complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicine are increasingly used to diagnose or treat allergic diseases, and numerous studies have reported benefits of this type of medicine. This article presents a review of the literature on risks of these methods. The potential sensitizing capacity of numerous herbal remedies may lead to allergic contact dermatitis and more rarely to IgE-mediated clinical symptoms. Mechanical injuries may be observed following acupuncture leading to pneumothorax, cardiac tamponade or spinal injury. Infectious complications after acupuncture include hepatitis and bacterial endocariditis. Organ toxicity has been observed associated with various herbal preparations involving the liver, kidneys, and the heart. Some herbs may have cancerogenic properties. Severe nutritional deficiencies can occur in infants and small children given strict alternative diets, resembling 'kwashiorkor'. Finally, among other miscellaneous adverse effects, adulteration with steroids, and herbal and drug interactions are discussed. The pattern of side-effects is similar to that observed by the use of conventional medicine. Therefore, caution may be justified using both conventional and unconventional methods. Only if the benefit is proven and the side-effects are established, should a given method be chosen.

Effect of ethanolic extract of Ecballium elaterium against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans

“…Organ toxicity has been observed associated with various herbal preparations involving the liver, kidneys, and the heart. Some herbs may have carcinogenic properties [24] . A major criticism associated with the use of herbal medicines is the absence of scientific evaluation of their safety profiles since many of them have turned out to be toxic [25] .…”

“…C. albicans were differentiated from other Candida and Cryptococcus species by its ability to grow on the Levine formula of EMB agar and to produce germ tubes within 3 h, and pseudohyphae and budding cells at [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] h when incubated at 35 曟 in 5%-10% CO 2 . The addition of tetracycline to the Levine formulation aids in the selection of C. albicans from clinical sources that are contaminated with bacteria.…”

Use of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in Patients With Malignant Diseases in High-Volume Cancer Center and Future Aspects

“…On the other hand, several studies have reported the potential side eff ects of CAM, including allergic contact dermatitis and organ toxicity (including liver, kidneys and heart) associated with medicinal herbs, mechanical injuries and infections (including hepatitis and bacterial endocarditis) with acupuncture, as well as various nutritional defi ciencies (especially in infants and small children given strict alternative diets). Th e authors suggest that some herbs may also have carcinogenic properties 16 .…”

Changing profile of undernutrition and edematous severe acute malnutrition (E -SAM)

“…The common causal factors identified were 'man made perception' of lactation failure/breast milk withdrawal and early introduction of very dilute milk formula or dilute starch based liquid diet without any good quality protein like arrow root/banana powder, rice/ragi/oats etc. Animal milk protein is often totally avoided, being branded as an allergen, especially as per the advice from complementary and alternate medicine [3]. The imbalance in the dietary ratio of protein to energy has been clearly implicated in the pathogenesis of E-…”