http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/12/15/report_ties_some_herb_remedies_to_toxic_metals/

Report ties some herb remedies to toxic metals
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | December 15, 2004

South Asian herbal remedies sold next to curry powder and basmati rice in Boston-area ethnic food markets may contain harmful amounts of lead, mercury, and arsenic, according to researchers who have analyzed their contents.


The scientists, first alerted to the danger by reports of patients suffering seizures after taking herbs, discovered that one in five of the imported products they bought in local shops had levels of heavy metals sometimes hundreds of times higher than the daily amount considered safe for oral consumption. The same products are sold nationwide.

The herbal pills, powders, and liquids are a cornerstone in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient holistic system of health that originated in India and that emphasizes the mind-body connection. It relies on herbs and oils to treat illness and prevent disease. An estimated 80 percent of India's 1 billion adults and children use the remedies as a routine part of health care.

The herbs are not regulated in India, and in this country, unlike prescription drugs or over-the-counter medicines, the imported products can be sold without rigorous scientific testing, subject only to the same standards that apply to food.

The authors of the report on Ayurvedic products called on the US Food and Drug Administration to test all imported herbal remedies for toxic metals. Critics of the agency said the Boston findings highlight the need for tighter regulation of dietary supplements, products containing natural ingredients that consumers take to enhance health, lose weight, sleep, and improve sexual performance.

'I absolutely think nothing should be sold without it being tested, and there should be active regulation of all products that are sold whether they're natural remedies, over-the-counter, or prescription drugs," said Dr. Michael Shlipak, a San Francisco researcher who authored a landmark study detailing the dangers of the herb ephedra. 'It's naive to think there aren't many dangerous products out there."

But users of the herbs in this country insist that the products are reliable and that safety concerns reflect bias by Western medical practitioners against treatments that started in the East.

The Boston study, published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, comes amid an unprecedented boom in the use of herbal remedies -- along with other alternative medical practices -- and a campaign to validate the safety and effectiveness of those pills and treatments by government and academic researchers.

In national surveys, 14 to 18 percent of US adults report regularly taking herbs and other dietary supplements to address everything from flatulence to hemorrhoids to incontinence.

'We now have roughly one in five adults routinely using herbs and supplements in the context of their health care, and it's growing," said Dr. David M. Eisenberg, director of Harvard Medical School's Osher Institute, which is devoted to testing alternative medical techniques. 'We've also become increasingly aware that herbs and supplements have the capacity to do good as well as harm, and that they also have the capacity to interact with other herbs and drugs."

That has become increasingly evident to doctors, nurses, and disease trackers as reports have trickled in about cases of lead poisoning linked to Ayurvedic medications. In July, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a detailed account of such cases, reporting that a dozen bouts of lead poisoning had been blamed on Ayurvedic remedies from 2000 through 2003.

One of those cases was in Massachusetts.

A middle-age man showed up at a Boston hospital in 2002 suffering seizures. Doctors were baffled. After running a battery of tests, they concluded that he had lead poisoning.

'The next obvious question is, why does he have lead toxicity?" said Dr. Robert B. Saper, lead author of the study published today. 'They asked him: 'Do you work with paint?' Finally, it was posed to the person whether he was taking anything other than conventional medicine. Lo and behold, he was taking an Ayurvedic herbal medicine product for the last six years to treat arthritis."

The man, who had taken herbal tablets called Guglu, recovered. But in a textbook example of how clinical medicine can give birth to scientific research, Saper, then a fellow at the Osher Institute and now a Boston University researcher, heard about the case from colleagues and decided to study the presence of heavy metals in medicinal herbs. In high enough concentrations, such metals can result in serious complications -- including convulsions, nausea, and vomiting.

From spring through fall 2003, Saper purchased 70 herbal medicine products imported from South Asia at 30 stores in the Boston area. The researchers did not examine Ayuverdic herbs made in this country.

Samples were tested at a lab run by the US Environmental Protection Agency, with scientists hunting for the presence of possibly harmful amounts of lead, mercury, and arsenic. The finding: Fourteen of the herbal treatments -- 20 percent -- contained at least one of these heavy metals in unsafe concentrations.

Researchers can't say for sure how the metals got there. Theories range from contamination during production to plants grown in tainted soil. But there also are suggestions in Ayurvedic textbooks that some metals may be added intentionally, valued for their reported healing potential.

That is a possibility that does not alarm Subhash Sehgal, a Newbury Street gallery owner who has taken Ayurvedic medicines for most of his 53 years and insists they do not contain toxic levels of metal.

To maintain his health, he eats bread each day that he coats with a gelatin called chayanprash, which is said to contain more than 12 herbs. 'It has been used for thousands of years, and we have never doubted it," he said. 'These are ancient ways to take care of your body."

A 1994 federal law prohibited the FDA from regulating dietary supplements like prescription drugs, setting a high standard before such a product can be taken off the market. An FDA official said the agency could not comment on the Boston study until it receives all the data, but added that regulators are already working to more aggressively target supplements that have been shown to pose serious risk to consumers. Nearly a year ago, the FDA moved to ban ephedra, an herb that had been used by elite athletes to enhance performance by strengthening their muscles and by dieters to speed weight loss. Studies blamed the herb for 155 deaths.

Saper advised patients taking imported Ayurvedic herbs to alert their doctors and consider testing for toxic substances.

Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, urged consumers not to lump domestically produced Ayurvedic herbs with imported products. 'And it's certainly too broad," McGuffin said, 'if it's read as a condemnation of all herbal products."

Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.

Shirish your title is kind of misleading since the article is not about Basmati rice or Curry Powders being toxic. You might have not noticed the phrase "NEXT TO" in the following sentence.

"South Asian herbal remedies sold NEXT TO curry powder and basmati rice in Boston-area ethnic food markets may contain harmful amounts..."

you are right Nuchhe !

I thought, bastamti rice was toxic "after" herbals not physically placed "next to" the curry powder.

The article basically describes herbals.

Let me put some views here.....which i have been dying to tell you guys for ages. Forget about the herbs or blahhh blahhh. The curry and rice itself is very toxic. The basmati rich, thai rice, japanese rice or pokhareli rice...these contains high amount of starch and carbs...it is good to consume rice 3 times a month but i wont suggest to have rice so often. If u really cant live without rice then i suggests to go for brown rice or wild rice which is more benefical and healthy. When it comes to curry..it is the most stupid thing in the world but most tasty. Tell you why.......when u make curry, how many spices do u use inside. As a chef for me cooking is all about combination of flavour and spices....for instance...when u make curry specially indians they add 25 diff types of spices which dont get alone. Example: cummin and corrinader goes well, ginger and garlic but why they heck we have to put so much turmaric, masala powder, meat masala..they keep on fighting and at the end your stomach becomes so stuffy after eating curry. When spices dont get alone you cant digest well, so your body start to accumulate all these toxic.
my suggestion is when u make curry......just use garlic, ginger, little turmaric, cummin and bit of chilli if u want

I was lectured and showed demostration by great chef of france who has michalle star...paul boucas

I'm totally with you Moneyminded on both issues-rice and spices.
Rice is also my weakness, I usually eat 5 meals with rice a month. I am trying to reduce to 3, its hard. I love rice. I use basmati rice, brown rice and sushi rice.

I make my own spice. I have a little coffee grinder which i use to grind cumin seed, corriander seed and put a couple of cloves for aroma. I only make enough for about a month and keep it in air tight container in a cool place. The spice remains very fresh like that. Other things I use are fenugreek seed (methi), bay leaves (tej pattha), timur, turmeric, and of course couldn't live without ginger and garlic, not so much crazy about cilantro.

5 meals of rice a month???? Dude, how do u do it?

I can live without wife,
i can't live without rice :). I feel a great sense of voidness the day I don't have rice in my meals. K garne? aroo j khaye pani, bhat khaye ko jasto ta hudaina.

I am sorry....I meant to say 5 meals of rice a week. No way...not less than that.

oys chill dude, amazing u cant survive without rice...tell u what i havenot eaten rice for last 2 months and i am still alive. I dont know what i have in my blood but i love bread than rice.....when u have so much choice of bread from chibetta, baugette, farmer roll, garlic bread, chaptai, naan etc etc...why the heck you have to eat rice?
I remeber when i went to hotel school for first time. I was shocked and amazed by the eating habit of ppl there. They give me scope of rice then i was like what the f..k? Slowly, later i got adapted with that diet. Today i merely eat rice and curry. I prefer to stick to salad, pastas, raughou, vicy carrot, gartin potato, garlic roasted poatato, steak, lamb chop and of course chinese noodles.

Dude you body can change habit? i have to be thankful to french for making my habit change and my thiking as well. I have been sticking around with french for last 7 yrs and they have been lucky for me. All the best boss so far i have worked are french and they can teach u how to eat man. Just try farmer roll, blue cheese, smoked salmon , capers and spanish onion....u will forget rice

The title is not only misleading, its completely incorrect title. To make it
exciting, you should not have written wrong title. Its ok to make it exciting,
but, not with wrong data.

India is a vast country and the lead and other metal content may be
matter of particular importer. May be in Boston its importer may be
different than where am I living.

In addition to this, I will suspect this a war between ayuervedic producer
and greedy phermacutical companies in USA. They might want to send
a message in India where Ayuervedic medicines are used more than
"English" medicines. This might be a trick to enter into indian market,
by funding the researchers and asking them to find weakness of AM.

America is a country where hospitals that provide medicines to heart
disease also provide Big Mac and Hardies Monster Burgers. Because
this country is run by Phermacuticals. More Mac and Burgers mean
more heart disease, more heart disease mean more phermacutical
uses, and profit to the PC companies.

Its just my cynical guess, but, there can be real attack.

GP