Some Herbs Not Worth The Weight

Commercial herbal concoctions offering easy solutions to weight problems should be avoided unless prescribed on a professional basis, said Gold Coast natural therapist Ruth Sharkey.

Commenting on a recent Belgian study which claimed some slimming regimes - including Chinese herbs - may be dangerous, Mrs Sharkey said the major problem with people taking such herbs was self-diagnosis.

Gold Coast Australian Medical Association branch president also warned people not to be taken in by what he termed miracle cures.

"Unfortunately, it seems we will always have someone wanting to make a quick dollar from someone else's misery," he said.

The Belgian research was prompted in 1992 after two women, on diets using the Chinese herbs, suffered kidney failure. Further cases were also identified and considered unusual because of the condition's rapid development in women under fifty.

A survey of dialysis units in Brussels, where most new Belgian kidney cases are treated, eventually revealed thirty-one more herb-related cases.

Further investigations showed that in May1990 the Chinese herbs Stephania tetrandra and Magnolia officinalis were introduced into Belgian weight loss programs.

Chemical analysis of capsules containing the herbs and of the powders themselves led researchers to suspect that the so-called Stephania distributed in Belgium may not have been that herb. However, they could not be sure.

The research team, led by Jean-Louis Vanherweghem, of the Erasme Hospital in Brussels, said some Chinese herbs are beneficial.

However, the team adds that, aside from the kidney cases, there also have been reports of the herbs' toxic effect on the liver and heart.

The AMA branch president believed commercial profit motivated 'dodgy' product sales.

"They always tend to prey on people under emotional strain who suffer either debilitating diseases or conditions that are perceived as being antisocial, such as being obese," he said.

'My advice to Gold Coast people is to stay away from so-called slimming Chinese herbs or teas, because the only things to become trimmer will be their wallets or purses.

"We even had a Gold Coast man several years ago trying to sell herbal tea to the world as a miracle cure."

Such was the case of conman Peter Foster, former boyfriend of British page three girl and singer Samantha Fox, who in the late 1990s promoted the controversial Bai Lin slimming tea.

While in the United States he served two months of a four-month sentence on charges of falsely advertising that the tea could reduce cholesterol and prevent heart attacks.

As a warning to those taking self-prescribed herbal remedies, Mrs Sharkey said: "Too often, herbal products from Germany and China come into Australia and, although they may have their ingredients listed on the side of the bottle, there's no guarantee that that is what's inside at all."

"The alarming fact is that sometimes these countries offload stockpiles of herbs into products just to get rid of them.

"Often people with weight problems are attracted by clever advertising brochures offering solutions to excess fluid.

"However, sometimes those who carry extra weight have problems with their thyroid gland or kidneys. Definitely, taking products for excess fluid is dangerous. It ends up with the kidneys basically being wrung out.

"No one should use herbs unless they are prescribed from a qualified person on a one-to-one basis or have been bought from a company which can be contacted in Australia."

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