Intoxication from Wall germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) after consuming a tea after recommendation from herbalist – risks of phytotherapy

Overview

Phytotherapy, the treatment of diseases with herbal remedies, is becoming increasingly popular. The therapeutic effectand toxicity of herbal mixture is often dependent on the amount of active ingredients and the ingested dose. One of therepresentatives of these medicinal herbs is Wall germander (Teucrium chamaedrys). This plant has a long tradition infolk medicine, contains a whole spectrum of natural substances, which are biologically active, have antioxidant,antimicrobial, antitumor and anti-inflammatory effect. Due to high number of intoxications in European Union, studieswere performed and demonstrated, that this species has also hepatotoxic effect due to the presence of neo-clerodanediterpenoids teucrin A especially. Due to incidence of severe intoxications in Europe some countries of the European Union banned the sale and use of preparations containing germander. In the Czech Republic is the sale of food supplements and preparations from Germander not regulated, these products are freely available on the internet in form of tinctures and capsules.

Keywords:

intoxication – case report – phytotherapy – Teucrium chamaedrys – hepatotoxicity – teucrin A