US EPA

447671 

Journal Article 

Potential interactions between drugs and valerian or garlic herbal medicines 

Alexandre, RF; Bagatini, F; Simoes, CMO 

2008 

0 

Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
ISSN: 0102-695X 

18 

3 

455-463 

Portuguese 

WOS:000260202800021 

At present, potential herbal-drug interactions are subject of great interest, because herbal medicines arc often administered in combination with synthetic drugs. The aim of this paper was to review the literature in order to identify reported interactions between valerian or garlic herbal medicine's and drugs, as well as to evaluate and summarize this information. Valerian or garlic herbal medicines could modify pharmacokinetics and/or pharmacodynamic profiles of several drugs and might lead to serious clinical consequences. Valerian, could increase the adverse effects of benzodiazepines and could decrease the bioavailability of drugs metabolized by CYP3A4. Furthermore, valerian could cause severe bleeding when taken,with oral anticoagulants and/or antiplatelet agents. Garlic could increase the bioavailability of muscle relaxants, could increase the therapeutic and adverse effects of hypoglycemic agents, could cause bleeding when taken with oral anticoagulants and/or antiplatelet agents, and could decrease the area under the plasma concentration curve of protease inhibitors. However, such potential herbal drug interactions are not consensual, because the reported studies present several limitations and significant differences among them. Therefore, concomitant use of herbal medicines and drugs has to be properly monitored by health care professionals. 

Valeriana officinalis; Valerianaceae; Allium sativum; Liliaceae; herb-drug interactions; valerian; garlic; glutathione-s-transferase; human cytochrome-p450 3a4; nitric-oxide; synthase; in-vitro evaluation; aqueous extract; allium-sativum; healthy-volunteers; officinalis l; biological-activity; clinical-trials