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Naturopathic Medicine and the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2022
Naturopathic doctors often use botanical formulas to wean a patient off a pharmaceutical while addressing diet and lifestyle changes. The above herbs, especially rauwolfia, have been used with great success. When prescribing rauwolfia, however, you must be careful about potential drug interactions including MAO inhibitors. Severe depression and Parkinson’s disease are contraindications. Since rauwolfia contains the alkaloid reserpine, side effects are not uncommon, so care needs to be taken when prescribing this herb.
An Overall Perspective on the Role of Prolactin in the Breast
Published in Nagasawa Hiroshi, Prolactin and Lesions in Breast, Uterus, and Prostate, 2020
H. G. Kwa, R. D. Billbrook, D. Y. Wang
In 1974, three reports appeared in The Lancet suggesting that women taking rauwolfia drugs for hypertension had an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The findings aroused interest because these drugs raise circulating levels of PRL. However, subsequent papers have not confirmed these results.170-175 Furthermore, epidemiological studies of patients from psychiatric institutions have not revealed an increase in breast cancer incidence, in spite of the chronic administration of tranquilizers known to increase PRL secretion.176 It would thus seem that an increase of PRL in adults, at least, does not result in a significantly enhanced risk of breast cancer. In view of the long latency period for breast cancer, it might be unwise to consider this matter as closed and further research would be sensible.
Naturopathic Medicine and the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2015
NDs often use botanical formulas to wean a patient off a pharmaceutical while addressing diet and lifestyle changes.86 The aforementioned herbs, especially rauwolfia, have been used with great success. When prescribing rauwolfia, however, you must be careful about potential drug interactions including MAO inhibitors. Severe depression and Parkinson’s disease are contraindications. Because rauwolfia contains the alkaloid reserpine, side effects are not uncommon, so care needs to be taken when prescribing this herb.
Where lies the future of Ayurveda-inspired drug discovery?
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2023
The Ayurveda-inspired drug discovery can follow a reverse pharmacology approach from ‘clinics-to-laboratories’ rather than the conventional ‘laboratory-to-clinics’ process. Reverse pharmacology is an approach that integrates reported clinical experiences and experiential observations into leads, through trans-disciplinary exploratory studies. These leads can then be further developed into drug candidates through robust preclinical and clinical studies. In this process, quality and safety is of primary importance, and efficacy is validated using conventional outcome measures [8]. Scientists have identified several bioactive compounds from medicinal plants described in Ayurveda. Examples of these include: Rauwolfia alkaloids for treating hypertension; psoralens for vitiligo; guggulsterons as hypolipidemic agents; Mucuna pruriens for Parkinson’s disease; piperidines as enhancers of bioavailability; baccosides in mental retention; picrosides for hepatic protection; phyllanthins as antivirals; berberine, curcumin for controlling infections, inflammation, and cancer; shatavarins and withanolides as adjuvants and immunomodulators [9].
The scoop on brain health dietary supplement products containing huperzine A
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2020
Cindy Crawford, Yan-Hong Wang, Bharathi Avula, Ji-Yeong Bae, Ikhlas A. Khan, Patricia A. Deuster
Other ingredients of concern listed on the labels included Mucuna pruriens extract found in three products, when listed as “standardized for L-Dopa”. Depending on how this was actually done it could be considered a drug. Rauwolfia vomitoria root bark extract (yohimbine) or “standardized for yohimbine” was also listed on two products. There have been reports of severe side effects from taking Yohimbe, as it interacts with many other dietary supplement ingredients including caffeine and other stimulants [15,16]. Only one product had a third-party certification seal present on the product bottle, which indicated that an outside party, Banned Substances Control Group, had verified that the product and ingredients met regulatory expectations for quality and was not contaminated with drugs on the World Anti-Doping list.
How can we improve the safe use of herbal medicine and other natural products? A clinical pharmacologist mission
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 2020
Elena Y. Enioutina, Kathleen M. Job, Lubov V. Krepkova, Michael D. Reed, Catherine M. Sherwin
Phytochemicals (single small molecules) isolated from the NPs or NP-inspired drugs represent a valuable source for drug development [14,15]. Many small-molecule drugs of herbal origin were or are actively used in clinical practice worldwide for a number of indications. Some highly recognizable examples would include: reserpine (Rauwolfia serpentina, L.), an antihypertensive medication, digoxin (Digitalis purpurea, L.), a standard treatment for heart failure; ergotamine (Claviceps purpurea, (Fr.)Tul.) used for the treatment of migraines, and post-partum; glaucine (Glaucium flavum) possesses antitussive properties, gossypol (Gossypium spp.) used in male contraception, and morphine (Papaver somniferum, L.) a universal standard used in pain management [16]. It has been estimated that 25–38% of new molecular entities approved by the FDA were isolated from NP or were their derivatives [15,17]. Twenty-one percent of all FDA-approved new molecular entities were non-mammalian origin compounds, and among them, 47% were plant-based new molecular entities [17]. Among them include ceftobiprole medocaril, a broad-spectrum cephalosporin, used for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia, fingolimod (Isaria sinclairii (Berk.) Lloyd) intended for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis; zucapsaicin, a cys-isomer of Capsaicin found in the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, used for pain management, and canagliflozin, a derivative of phlorizin found in the bark of apple tree (Malus domestica) and indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes [15,18].