The dangers of Ayurvedic medicine

Ayurvedic medicine has many healthy aspects. However, a recent story on NPR described the risks involved with the traditional Ayurvedic medicines from India. A very high percentage of Ayurvedic supplements in the category called bhasmas sold in the US contains large amounts of lead and other toxic elements. There is a lot more to Ayurvedic medicine than these supplements, so it is important to separate dangerous parts from things like healthy diet, yoga, and other.

Unfortunately, the US government does not regulate supplements, so there is always a question of safety of these products, especially those made outside the US. The one exception is products made in Germany, where supplements are as strictly regulated as drugs (please note that Petadolex, a butterbur product is made in Germany, but is not allowed for sale there). Many patients ask me about not only Indian but also Chinese herbal medicines, which are often combined with acupuncture and other treatment methods. As a rule, I recommend avoiding products made in China or India, where quality controls are very poor. Instead, you should buy products made by major US manufacturers, although they do not make many traditional Chinese and Indian products. However, you cannot always count on products sold in major US store chains either – recently, herbal products sold at Walgreens, WalMart, Target and GNC were found to have no active ingredients. Thankfully, there were no toxic ingredients in those products.

The largest mass poisoning with a Chinese herbal dietary weight loss product occurred in Europe where 18 patients developed kidney failure and urinary cancer.

In summary, no matter how promising a Chinese or an Indian herbal product may sound, it is not worth the risk.