kelsey hudson wrote: > David Looney wrote: > >> They just haven't gone through *any* safety or efficacy testing. For >> example, most people don't know that certain herbal teas are associated >> with potentially fatal veno-occlusive disease of the liver, or that >> ginseng or real licorice can cause hypertension. > > I drink quite a bit of herbal tea (and managed to spill some all over > myself this morning, gah!). I'd be interested in finding out which of > the aforementioned teas, if any, i drink so i can eliminate them from my > diet. Liver disease doesn't exactly sound appealing. My liver gets > enough abuse from the beer I drink anyways!
The offending chemicals are pyrrolizidine alkaloids found in some herbal teas - has included teas labeled as having come from India and China, Mate (from Paraquay and Ecuador), Jamaican teas (comfrey teas) - that either deliberately or inadvertantly contain leaves of Senecio or Crotolaria plant species (certainly wouldn't drink anything with these on the list of contents !) It often isn't clear there is a problem until people start getting sick, and very few do. People that get into trouble have had imbibed a lot over a long period. David Looney -- Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it. - Richard Feynman -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
