Every so often I like to post a list of commonly sold herbs and botanicals that are harmful to our livers particularly so if the liver is compromised by disease. One of the botanicals listed below, valerian, has been mentioned several times here lately. The "all natural" sleep potion sold on TV ( Alteril ) has valerian as one of its 3 ingredients. It used to be in the original Sleepy Tyme tea from Celestial Seasonings but they took it out years ago. If you are taking anything on this list I would suggest you try to find out more about its safety profile. Some of these are more hepato-toxic than others but all are known to be toxic to the liver.
* Atractylis Gummifera
* Azadirachza indica
* Bush tea
* Berberis vulgaris
* Calliepsis Laureola
* Cassia angustifolia (Senna)
* Chaparral (creosote bush, greasewood)
* Comfrey (internally)
* Corydalis
* Creosote bush
* Crotaiaria
* Crotalaria (Ye Bai He)
* Germander
* Gordolobo yerba tea
* Groundsel (senecio longilobus)
* Eupatorium
* Fragrant valerian
* Galericulata
* Gentian
* Germander
* Gordolobo yerba tea
* Greasewood
* Groundsel
* He Shou Wu
* Hedeoma pulegoides
* Heliotropium
* Hops
* Jin Bu Huan
* Kava-Kava (long term, seek advise)
* Larrea tridentata (Chaparrel bush, Creosote Bush
Greasewood)
* Lycopodium serratum (Jin Bu Huan)
* Ma-huang
* Margosa oil
* Mate tea
* Mentha pulegoides
* Mistletoe
* Pennyroyal (Squamint) oil
* Saw palmetto
* Sassafras albidum (Sassafrass)
* Scuteileria (Skullcap)
* Senicio species
* Skullcap
* Squamint
* Stephania
* Symphytum officinale (Comfrey)
* Teucrium Chamaedrys (Germander [mint family])
* Tusilago Farfara (peppermint)
* Valeriana officinalis (Valerian, Asfetida, Hops
Gentian)
* Viscum alba
* Yohimbe
ML