Herbs and the brain: friend or foe? The effects of ginkgo and garlic on
warfarin use.
Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, NSW,
Australia.
In the quest for longevity and as an alternative to
Western medicine, there has been a resurgence in traditional remedies.
However, several concerns have been raised about the increased use of herbal
remedies, including potential interactions with "Western" medicines, the
lack of quality control, the assessment of herbal clinical trials, and the
adulteration of herbal remedies by traditional prescribers. Taking an herbal
history is not usually a part of medical/nursing practice, and patients
usually do not readily volunteer such information. In the cerebrovascular
and cardiac settings, it is particularly important to gain such a history
and to educate patients and family members about the potential interactions
of herbal remedies with anticoagulants. Two herbal supplements in
particular, ginkgo biloba and garlic, have demonstrated effects on warfarin.
PMID: 10994537 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]