Millions of Americans consume supplements that contain potentially hepatoxic botanical ingredients, according to a study from University of Michigan researchers. Over a 30-day period, 4.7% of the adults surveyed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2017 to 2020 took herbal and dietary supplements containing at least one of the botanicals of interest: turmeric; green tea; ashwagandha; black cohosh; garcinia cambogia ; and red yeast rice containing products.
The resulting paper, "Estimated Exposure to 6 Potentially Hepatoxic Botanicals in US Adults," appeared in JAMA this month. Our interest started when we saw cases of liver toxicity from herbal and dietary supplement use in people enrolled into the ongoing NIH-funded DILIN study." Alisa Likhitsup, M.
D., M.P.
H., clinical assistant professor of Medicine at U-M and lead author on the paper "But it was difficult to say how many people were using these supplements and why. The major finding here is the large number of Americans taking these products with an estimated 15 million adult Americans taking them on a regular basis.
" Prior research in the field had established the specific botanicals studied as potentially hepatoxic. Supplements are of particular concern for the researchers for several interrelated reasons: lack of government regulation, insufficient attention in medical screenings, and frequent mislabeling. "In a previous study, we found that there was a great deal of mislabeling of some.