Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Mar 12;11(6):1567.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11061567.

Herb-Drug Interaction in Inflammatory Diseases: Review of Phytomedicine and Herbal Supplements

Annemarie Lippert  1 , Bertold Renner  1
Affiliations
Review

Herb-Drug Interaction in Inflammatory Diseases: Review of Phytomedicine and Herbal Supplements

Annemarie Lippert et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Many people worldwide use plant preparations for medicinal purposes. Even in industrialized regions, such as Europe, where conventional therapies are accessible for the majority of patients, there is a growing interest in and usage of phytomedicine. Plant preparations are not only used as alternative treatment, but also combined with conventional drugs. These combinations deserve careful contemplation, as the complex mixtures of bioactive substances in plants show a potential for interactions. Induction of CYP enzymes and pGP by St John's wort may be the most famous example, but there is much more to consider. In this review, we shed light on what is known about the interactions between botanicals and drugs, in order to make practitioners aware of potential drug-related problems. The main focus of the article is the treatment of inflammatory diseases, accompanied by plant preparations used in Europe. Several of the drugs we discuss here, as basal medication in chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g., methotrexate, janus kinase inhibitors), are also used as oral tumor therapeutics.

Keywords: NSAID; complementary medicine; cyclooxygenase inhibitor; cyclosporine; ginseng; green tea; herbal medical products; inflammatory bowel disease; methotrexate; rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sammons H.M., Gubarev M.I., Krepkova L.V., Bortnikova V.V., Corrick F., Job K.M., Sherwin C.M., Enioutina E.Y. Herbal medicines: Challenges in the modern world. Part 2. European Union and Russia. Expert Rev. Clin. Pharmacol. 2016;9:1117–1127. doi: 10.1080/17512433.2016.1189326. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Madsen H., Andersen S., Nielsen R.G., Dolmer B.S., Høst A., Damkier A. Use of complementary/alternative medicine among paediatric patients. Eur. J. Pediatr. 2003;162:334–341. doi: 10.1007/s00431-003-1180-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bush T.M., Rayburn K.S., Holloway S.W., Sanchez-Yamamoto D.S., Allen B.L., Lam T., So B.K., de Tran H., Greyber E.R., Kantor S., et al. Adverse interactions between herbal and dietary substances and prescription medications: A clinical survey. Altern. Ther. Health Med. 2007;13:30–35. - PubMed
    1. Lakatos P.L., Czegledi Z., David G., Kispal Z., Kiss L.S., Palatka K., Kristof T., Nagy F., Salamon A., Demeter P., et al. Association of adherence to therapy and complementary and alternative medicine use with demographic factors and disease phenotype in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. J. Crohn’s Colitis. 2010;4:283–290. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2009.11.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Djuv A., Nilsen O.G., Steinsbekk A. The co-use of conventional drugs and herbs among patients in Norwegian general practice: A cross-sectional study. BMC Complement. Altern. Med. 2013;13:295. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-13-295. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources