BEWARE OF POTENTIALLY LETHAL OIL OF WORMWOOD.Byline: Peter Modica Medical Tribune News Service Doctors are warning people about consuming oil of wormwood, an herbal liquid that has been linked with serious health consequences in one patient. In last week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. , doctors reported the case of a 31-year-old man who was hospitalized after drinking oil of wormwood, which he had purchased over the Internet. After drinking 10 milliliters of the oil, he became agitated, incoherent, disoriented dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. and suffered seizures, reported Dr. Steven D. Weisbord and colleagues at George Washington University George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The patient then developed acute kidney failure Acute Kidney Failure Definition Acute kidney failure occurs when illness, infection, or injury damages the kidneys. Temporarily, the kidneys cannot adequately remove fluids and wastes from the body or maintain the proper level of certain and congestive heart failure congestive heart failure, inability of the heart to expel sufficient blood to keep pace with the metabolic demands of the body. In the healthy individual the heart can tolerate large increases of workload for a considerable length of time. , according to the report. After more than a week in the hospital, he was discharged. Weisbord and colleagues said the man had assumed the oil would produce the same druglike ``high'' that results from drinking a liqueur called absinthe absinthe (ăb`sĭnth), an emerald-green liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics, including angelica root, sweet-flag root, star anise, and dittany, which have been macerated and steeped in alcohol. . Oil of wormwood is one of the ingredients in absinthe. While absinthe is banned in the United States and most countries, its ingredients - including oil of wormwood - are readily available over the Internet, they said. ``Consumers should be aware that substances they obtain over the Internet and in health-food stores could have toxic potential,'' said study co-author Dr. Paul L. Kimmel, a professor of medicine. ``The consumer has to be wary and consult a doctor if there is any question about use of these substances,'' he said. Besides being an ingredient in absinthe, oil of wormwood also is used in aromatherapy, Kimmel added. Kathryn L. Grant, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Arizona (body, education) University of Arizona - The University was founded in 1885 as a Land Grant institution with a three-fold mission of teaching, research and public service. in Tucson, agreed that toxic poisoning from unregulated herbal therapies is a serious concern. People are taking a risk when they consume an herbal product without knowing what is in it and whether it is safe, Grant said. ``If they are going to try one of these alternative remedies, buy it at a pharmacy and talk to the pharmacist about it,'' she advised. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion