Interactions Between Medicinal Plants and Drugs

Overview

At present the use of medicaments of plant origin is on the increase. It is therefore necessary to takeinto consideration that there exist known as well as potential interactions between the medicamentof the medicinal plant. The problematic plants include Echinacea, Allium cepa, Gingko biloba, Panaxginseng, as well as Hypericum perforatum, Valeriana officinalis, or Glycyrrhiza glabra. Its useshould be limited, or completely excluded in the cases of simultaneous therapy with, e.g., warfarin,hepatotoxically acting medicaments, MAOI inhibitors, phenelzin sulphate, or phenytoin, as theymay decrease of completely eliminate the therapeutic effect of the administered drugs, or they maycause a toxic damage to the organism.

Key words:
medicinal plant – drug – interaction