Posted 20 October 2017
In an article titled, Herbal remedies embraced by naturopaths, alt med widely linked to liver cancers, published in ArsTechnica, makes the following points:
According to a study published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, traditional components of herbal remedies used throughout Asia are widely implicated in liver cancers there. In Taiwan, for instance, 78 percent of 98 liver tumors sampled displayed a pattern of mutations consistent with exposure to herbs containing aristolochic acids (AAs). These are carcinogenic components found in a variety of centuries-old herbal remedies said to treat everything from snakebites to gout, asthma, and pain.
And
In 2000, Belgian doctors reported that about 100 women taking a Chinese herbal treatment from a weight-loss clinic in Brussels experienced kidney failure, and many later developed bladder and urinary tract cancers. Upon investigation, the doctors determined that the AA-containing herb Aristolochia fangchi had been substituted into the treatment.
Continue reading at ArsTechnica
It refers to a recently published study in Science Translational Medicine, which introduces the study with:
Aristolochic acid, an herbal compound found in many traditional medicines, had been previously linked to kidney failure, as well as cancers of the urinary tract. Because of these known toxicities, herbs containing this compound have been restricted or banned in some countries, but it is still available on the internet and in alternate formulations. By analyzing numerous samples from Taiwan and other countries in Asia and elsewhere, Ng et al. demonstrated the effects of aristolochic acid in hepatocellular carcinoma, a much more common tumor type. The authors showed that the use of this drug remains widespread in Asia and particularly in Taiwan, and that it appears to increase the risk of multiple different cancer types.
Read the study conclusions at Science Translational Medicine
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