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The perception
that herbal remedies are more natural and therefore safer than prescribed
drugs is prompting more and more Australians to seek over-the-counter
alternative remedies to prevent or cure ailments according to UniSA
researchers. With large
numbers of Australians using widely available herbal remedies, the dangers
of mixing herbal remedies with prescription drugs have attracted the
attention of researchers from UniSA’s Centre for Pharmaceutical Research
(CPR). Associate
Professor Allan Evans, Professor Roger Nation and Dr Robert Milne, from
UniSA's CPR have won a National Health and Medical Research Council
project grant of nearly $200 000 to investigate how herbal remedies
interact with prescription drugs. Dr Evans said
about half of Australians used at least one non-medically prescribed
‘complementary’ medicine, including herbal medicines, each year. "One of the
reasons that Australians are increasingly turning to herbal remedies for
preventing or treating disease is the perception that they are safer than
conventional medicines and that they are more natural," Dr Evans
said. "However,
many of today's medicines, including morphine for pain control, digoxin
for heart failure, and drugs for treating infections and preventing organ
rejection, are also obtained from nature, as are some of the most
poisonous chemicals known to man. It
has been known for many years that 'natural medicines' such as digoxin are
involved in drug-drug interactions, so there is good reason to suspect
that herbal products would also pose a danger." According to Dr
Evans, research has already shown that the popular herb St John's Wort can
interact in a dangerous way when taken with a range of prescription
medicines. Yet St John's Wort
is easily available in Australia - even as an ingredient in certain soft
drinks. Further it has
recently been shown that even some foods can change the levels of certain
drugs within the bloodstream. Dr Evans said
grapefruit juice could increase the levels in the blood of a range of
prescription drugs. For this
reason, patients taking cyclosporin (for preventing organ rejection after
a kidney transplant) are advised to avoid grapefruit juice. The CPR team has been investigating drug-drug interactions for more than 10 years. Further information: Dr Allan Evans, (08) 8302 2374, Thel Krollig, media liaison, 0407726175 |
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