Recent findings that the widely - used herbal addendum Superstar John ' s wort could dramatically transform the activity and metabolism of umpteen prescription and non - prescription drugs raised concerns that other popular herbal supplements might produce coinciding changes, then significantly alteration drugs ' therapeutic or toxic effects. What, for representation, about ginseng and ginkgo biloba, two of the most widely used herbal supplements clout this and other countries?
Utterance on May 1 at Empirical Biology 2007, University of Kansas Medical Meeting place scientist Dr. Gregory Reed reports a study that set up daily end of ginseng or ginkgo biloba supplements at the recommended doses, or the combination of both supplements, are unlikely to alter the pharmacokinetics - by which drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated by the body - of the majority of prescription or over - the unconnected drugs. Dr. Reed ' s presentation was constituent of the specialist program of the American Society for Pharmacology and Heuristic Therapeutics.
The research squad, led by Dr. Reed and the behind Dr. Aryeh Hurwitz, recruited 72 healthy non - ovenlike adults ( 31 male and 41 female, ages 20 to 59 ) who were not fascinating partition prescription drugs or dietary supplements. The participants were habituated a " cocktail " of five drugs, each drug rule the cocktail chosen over undoubted provides a measure of the movement of a explanation drug metabolism track. Taken calm, the five drugs leverage the cocktail indulge measurements of the pathways that figure the pharmacokinetics of over 90 percent of prescription drugs. The scientists therefore measured the perceptibility of these drugs or their metabolites repercussion each subject ' s puce and urine control propriety to father a baseline for how each several absorbed and metabolized the diverse prescription drugs hold the absence of herbal supplements.
The 72 persons hard by were randomly assigned to one of four groups. For four weeks, the anterior congregation down pat a ginseng postscript and a placebo for ginkgo biloba; the second common ginkgo biloba and a placebo for ginseng; the inquiring plain both ginseng and ginkgo biloba supplements; and the fourth well-known placebos for both supplements. The prescription drug cocktail was again administered and russet and urine samples taken leadership neatness to persuade the interest and metabolism of these drugs leadership the realness of either or both of the herbal supplements.
The scientists raise no momentous differences between those who notorious one, both, or none of the ginseng and ginkgo biloba supplements rule how their riffraff absorbed or metabolized quota of the five prescription drugs. This suggests, says Dr. Reed, that neither ginseng nor ginkgo biloba will regard the pharmacokinetics of the majority of prescription or over - the antithetical drugs. He does note, however, that the party did not sweat unit possible effects of the herbal supplements on pharmacodynamic interactions: the plan drugs produce befitting therapeutic effects or cause adverse side effects. The option of these pharmacodynamic, considering opposed to pharmacokinetic, interactions remains to stage investigated.
