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Today's Daily Health Tip
Chaparral: The Black Sheep of Herbs?
by Matt Anderson   Each week, we bring you a new ingredient that you can use to improve your health. This week, we're looking at chaparral. Native Americans have used Chaparral leaf for centuries. Exactly how it works is open to debate, but some of its main benefits are: - Chaparral leaf is one of the most powerful anti-oxidants in nature. The primary biochemical responsible for this is NDGA (nordihydroguaiaretic acid) - so effective, it is often used as a food preservative.
- Chaparral leaf cleanses the lymph system.
- It is a powerful blood purifier.
- It cleanses the liver.
- It cleanses the urinary tract.
- Studies show that chaparral may also inhibit cell proliferation as well as DNA synthesis.
So how could such a beneficial herb be on everyone's blacklist?
According to the FDA, chaparral has been linked to serious liver damage. The FDA has recorded two deaths and 10 cases of hepatitis or other liver abnormalities in users.
The reality of the situation, though, is that the evidence for chaparral liver toxicity is anecdotal. It is not the result of any double blind studies or of any clinical trials. For example, one of the cases the FDA likes to single out can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association (273 (6):489). The details of the case concern a 60-year-old woman who developed jaundice and liver failure while taking one to two capsules of chaparral each day with a pinch of garlic in a tea made from nettle and chickweed. The authors of the JAMA article concluded it was the chaparral that caused the liver problems. What is fascinating is that the patient in question was also consuming atenolol, aspirin, was on a nitro patch, and occasional acetaminophen, as well as diltiazem hydrochloride - all drugs with profound hepatoxic potential. Amazingly, none of these other substances was even considered as a possible cause of the liver problems by the authors...or the FDA. What a surprise!
Nevertheless (and despite the fact that extensive studies on chaparral in the 1970s and 1980s were unable to find any hepatotoxic properties), in December of 1992, FDA Commissioner David Kessler announced, "The public should not purchase or consume chaparral."
After these allegations of liver toxicity by the FDA, manufacturers voluntarily restricted sales of chaparral for several years until the reports were investigated. Following a lengthy review, a panel of medical experts concluded "no clinical data was found... to indicate chaparral is inherently a hepatic toxin." In late 1994, this report was submitted to the FDA. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) now recommends that companies that offer products for sale for internal use that contain chaparral (Larrea tridentata) [should] provide labeling that contains the following informational language:
Rare reports of serious liver disease have been associated with ingestion of chaparral. Seek advice from a health care practitioner before use and, in so doing, inform them if you have had, or may have had, liver disease, frequently use alcoholic beverages, or are using any medications. Discontinue use and see a doctor if vomiting, fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, or jaundice (e.g., dark urine, pale stools, yellow discoloration of the eyes) should occur.
So is this remarkable herb now sold freely in the marketplace and used to benefit ailing people all over the world? Hardly!
Search for "chaparral toxicity" on the web and you will see numerous articles still announcing the dangers of the herb (all citing the same cases from the early 90's.) Or try and buy chaparral in Canada or much of Europe. The problem is that once an herb is labeled dangerous (even if disproved at a later date), the stigma remains - and is brought up over and over and over again... acquiring truth through repetition, if not fact.
Fortunately, despite the bad press, chaparral, or larrea, is at least available (for the time being) in the United States.
For more information on chaparral, click here.
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