Potentially dangerous mix of herbal mme remedies and drugs

Researchers from the Department of Pharmacy at King’s College, London, questioned 929 people visiting four pharmacies in West London about whether or not they informed their pharmacist about their herbal medicine use. Two-thirds did not admit to taking herbal medicines when they collected prescriptions. Even when people were asked what medicines they were taking, 41% did not mention herbal remedies because they did not class them as medicines. Seven per cent of those studied were taking potentially dangerous combinations of herbal remedies and prescription medicines. The most common dangerous combination was taking Hypericum perforatum (St John’s wort) along with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/3109052.stm, 15 September 2003