Herbal Products in Pregnancy: Experimental Studies and Clinical Reports

Smeriglio, Antonella; Tomaino, Antonio; Trombetta, Domenico

doi:10.1002/ptr.5106

Cited by 38 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Given the increasingly growing phenomena of drug resistance as well as the side effects that are observed often with the use of conventional drugs, researchers have shifted their attention to plant extracts and their isolated bioactive compounds (Smeriglio, Barreca, Bellocco, & Trombetta, 2016;Smeriglio, Tomaino, & Trombetta, 2014). However, the growing interest in herbal products, as well as food supplements, is mainly related to the wrong assumption that they are natural and therefore "safe.…”

Section: Adverse Effects: Focus On Pharmacological Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The estimation of the product safety does not lie only on its toxicological profile but also on the risk of incurring in possible pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic interactions, which can lead to treatments failures, significant toxicity or sometimes to clinically fatal events (Smeriglio et al, 2014).…”

Section: Adverse Effects: Focus On Pharmacological Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Denaro

Smeriglio

Barreca

et al. 2019

Phytotherapy Research

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131

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Viral infections represent one of the main causes of disease worldwide, especially today due to the increase of migration, global travel, and urbanization. The several side effects of the conventional drugs and the growing phenomenon of resistance have led researchers to turn to the plant kingdom as a source of potential new antiviral drugs. The aim of this work is to summarize the updated evidence for antiviral activity of different plants and their isolated bioactive compounds, evaluating also the potential interactions, which can occur in cotreatment with conventional antiviral drugs. The plant complexes have proved to be usually more active than their most abundant isolated compounds by hypothesizing synergistic mechanisms. In addition to cellular and molecular investigations, molecular docking studies have proved essential in highlighting the interaction mechanisms of bioactive compounds with target molecules. However, the use of nonstandardized extracts, or too high concentrations in vitro, which do not reproduce their bioavailability in vivo, are often limiting factors. Moreover, the lack of studies concerning the safety profile of plant extracts and their isolated compounds, alone or in combination with conventional antiviral drugs, is the most worrying aspect. In light of this, further studies are needed to validate their possible therapeutic use.

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Section: Adverse Effects: Focus On Pharmacological Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Adverse Effects: Focus On Pharmacological Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Denaro

Smeriglio

Barreca

et al. 2019

Phytotherapy Research

Self Cite

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous studies have shown that many patients had used herbal medicines with good therapeutic results, although the benefits were later discovered to be based on the presence of prescription drugs that were added without declaration (Silva et al, 2013;Kristanc & Kreft, 2016;Teschke & Schulze, 2013). Patients may even develop significant organic disorders such as renal failure and hepatic or neurological disorders among other undesirable effects because of the use of adulterated products (Bunchorntavakul & Reddy, 2013;Silva et al, 2013;Smeriglio, Tomaino, & Trombetta, 2014).…”

Section: Restrictions For the Use Of Herbal Medicine Or Medicinal Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pregnancy and herbal medicines: An unnecessary risk for women's health—A narrative review

Bruno

Simões

et al. 2018

Phytotherapy Research

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The indiscriminate use of herbal medicines to prevent or to heal diseases or even the use for questionable purposes such as weight loss has received both interest and scrutiny from the scientific community and general public alike. An increasing number of women put their own and the unborn child's health at risk due to a lack of knowledge about the phytochemical properties and adequate use of herbal medicine (phytomedicines or herbal supplements) and lack of communication with their healthcare provider. The purpose of this narrative review was to summarize the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and their potential toxic effects to highlight the importance of caution when prescribing herbal medicines or supplements for women, because, in addition to suffering interactions and a great amount of information obtained in preclinical predictive studies, assessment of nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, genotoxicity, and teratogenicity of traditional medicinal herbs still remains scarce in the clinical setting.

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“…Recent estimates indicate that approximately half (49%) of all US adults partake in some form of dietary supplementation [13], often involving herbal products. Investigations have been conducted on the effectiveness of herbal supplementation over a wide range of applications including: pregnancy [14], obesity [15], depression [16], and physical performance [17], as well as involving herbal supplementation to treat various diseases [8,10,11,18].…”

Section: Overview Of Herbal Dietary Supplementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing Circulating Testosterone: Impact of Herbal Dietary Supplements

Gunnels¹

2014

J Plant Biochem Physiol

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Low circulating testosterone levels can present numerous problems related to the overall health and well-being of individuals, men in particular. This finding is well-documented in the literature and low testosterone appears more prevalent in older men, in particular those who are physically inactive and who present with elevated levels of body fat. Multiple botanical (herbal) products have been claimed to elevate circulating testosterone in men; however, data pertaining to the use of such herbal preparations obtained from human clinical trials are limited. This review examines the research to date pertaining to the use of herbal ingredients with regards to their ability to elevate blood testosterone levels. A collective summary of the findings indicate that certain herbal supplements may actually yield an increase in testosterone (e.g., Longjack root), while most others have little to no evidence in support of their use in human subjects. Additional, well-controlled clinical trials are needed to generate data relative to the use of herbal dietary supplements to increase circulating testosterone. Testosterone is generally measured as either "free" (unbound) or "total" (unbound and chemically bound). Men who have a morning serum testosterone level < 300 ng/dL are considered to be "low" and may be a candidate for testosterone replacement therapy-which has become more common in recent years due to the increased diagnosis of andropause [55]. Insufficient levels of testosterone due to either impaired production or uptake can present serious health consequences due to the wide array of applications of testosterone within the human body. Areas including skeletal muscle health, muscular strength, and overall well-being/vitality seem to be significantly affected by testosterone status. Increasing Circulating Testosterone: Impact of Herbal Dietary SupplementsTrintThe role of testosterone in muscle growth has been investigated extensively in both humans and animals [56][57][58][59][60][61][62]. One study in men concluded that the testosterone-induced increase in muscle volume is due to muscle fiber hypertrophy [63]. A follow-up study conducted a year later noted muscle hypertrophy in men over a period of 20 weeks of treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and a 125-, 300-, or 600-mg weekly dose of testosterone enanthate. The main findings from this study indicated that testosterone administration was associated with a significant increase in myonuclear number in men receiving the 300-and 600-mg doses.Muscular strength is another important factor that has been shown to be affected by testosterone levels in the body [56,61,62,[64][65][66]. A recent investigation utilized 267 men with stages 2-4 of Chronic Kidney Disease to assess the impact of testosterone level on a variety of variables [64]. This study found that testosterone was significantly and independently associated with handgrip strength, muscle mass, and nutritional status as the disease progressed. Another study explored short-term testoste...

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Herbal Products in Pregnancy: Experimental Studies and Clinical Reports

Cited by 38 publications

References 41 publications

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Pregnancy and herbal medicines: An unnecessary risk for women's health—A narrative review

Increasing Circulating Testosterone: Impact of Herbal Dietary Supplements

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