Comfrey and Pyrriolizidine
Alkaloids: Overview
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How
Harmful are Alkaloids in Comfrey?
Low
Compared to Other Health Risks
"In perspective, the public health hazards of pyrrolizidine alkaloid
poisoning pale when compared to those of conventional drugs. Adverse drug
reaction costs the U.S. about 5 billion a year. Ten to twenty thousand people
a year die from gastric complications of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs alone (NSAID= aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen), and recent study shows
that overly aggressive treatment of high blood pressure with drugs may cause
25,000 heart attacks a year."
(Botanical Medicine, Comfrey, Coltsfoot & Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids,
www.encognitive.com/node/14766 and medherb.com/Materia_Medica/ Symphytum_-_Comfrey,_Coltsfoot,_and_
Pyrrolizidine_Alkaloids.htm, Paul Bergner)
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Low
Toxicity Compared to Other Food
Scientific
Comparison Index: Comfrey Has Low Toxicity
"Mark Blumenthal states, 'The comfrey incident (reported overdose)
might have looked different if it had been put into context of a toxicity
scale. One such scale is the HERP (Human Exposure/Rodent Potency) index,
which classifies the cancer-causing potentials of various substances. Extrapolating
from the HERP index, former U.S. Department of Agriculture botanist James
Duke, Ph.D., calculates that less than one-fifth an ounce of brown mustard
is twice as cancer causing as comfrey tea, which has roughly the same cancer-causing
potential as a peanut butter sandwich. Wine is 144 times more cancer causing
than an equal amount of comfrey tea.' "
(The Comfrey Controversy by Rosemary Gladstar as quoted
in Urban Herbalist, http://urbanherbalist.me/?paged=2. Rosemary Gladstar
wrote the popular books: "Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant
Health", "Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs", "Herbs for Natural Beauty",
"Herbs for Stress and Anxiety", "Herbs for Common Ailments", "Herbal Healing
for Women", and others.)
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Alkaloids
Are in Many Plants
Alkaloids
are Common in Plants
"Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are heterocyclic organic compounds.
They occur in nature in more than 6,000 plants, in excess of 300 plant species
of up to 13 families, mainly in the families of Boraginaceae (all genera),
Asteraceae (tribes Senecioneae and Eupatorieae) and Fabaceae (genus Crotalaria)."
(European Medicines Agency, www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/
document_library/ Public_statement/2012/10/ WC500134311.pdf.)
Food in the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family contain
alkaloids. These include potatoes, tomatoes, sweet/hot pepper, eggplant,
goji berries, ground cherries, tomatillas, pimentos, huckleberry, paprika
and others. Some people are sensitive to food in the Nightshade family.
So be sure to have variety in your diet.
Some animals such as the Cinnabor Moth prefer plants with alkaloids. This
moth lays it eggs on Groundsel and Ragwort.
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Some
Alkaloids Have None or Low Toxicity
Alkaloids Vary in Toxicity, Some Are Not Toxic
"Pyrrolizidine alkaloids vary widely among themselves in potential
toxicity. One alkaloid can be six or more times as toxic as another, and
some are not toxic at all."
(A.R. Mattocks, Toxicity of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids. Nature
1968 V. 217 p. 723-9 as cited in Botanical Medicine, www.encognitive.com/node/14766)
Be moderate in all things. Avoid extremes. Consult
your health care provider.
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All Is
Interconnected: Synergy
Isolated
Alkaloids Fed in Huge Doses to Rats Is Not the Same Thing as a Synergistic
Whole Natural Herb
"What they failed to take into account is what herbalists have known
for centuries. First, ANY substance, in great enough quantities, is harmful.
The amount of PAs given to the newborn rats in that 7-week period was the
equivalent of over 5,600 comfrey leaves, if given to a man-sized rat."
"Secondly, you cannot isolate one component and assume that the herb, in
its entirety, will have the same action. Herbs are not like pharmaceutical
drugs, which are often made up of one or two components. Herbs are made
up of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different components. Each component
works synergistically with the others to create the herb's healing effect.
Isolated PAs are not going to have the same effects as the herb as a whole."
(The above 2 paragraphs are Kerry's Herbals, www.kerrysherbals.com/articles/
comfrey_safety.shtml)
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Pharmaceuticals
Only Used for Decades; Comfrey Used for Thousands of Years
Drug
Companies Lose Money When People Use Herbs
"Also keep in mind who profits and doesn't from the use, or defilement,
of comfrey. When herbs are used in place of drugs, the pharmaceutical companies
lose money. There are many drugs on the market, used by millions on a daily
basis, which have been shown to cause liver damage when overused or misused.
Acetaminophen is routinely given to people of all ages, from newborns to
the elderly, yet its liver toxicity has been proven many times in research."
Herbs Have Been Used to Heal for Centuries
"Herbal remedies have the benefit of thousands of years of usage, compared
to only a few decades, sometimes only a few years, with pharmaceuticals."
(The above 2 paragraphs are Kerry's Herbals, www.kerrysherbals.com/articles/
comfrey_safety.shtml)
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'The
Comfrey Controversy" by Rosemary Gladstar
Misleading "Facts"
"I've witnessed so much controversy over favorite herbs. Usually facts
are misleading and after several years of 'black listing' evidence creeps
up that redeems the deposed herb."
"Sassafras, one of my favorite tea drinking herbs, was removed from the
market because of the potential toxic effects of the chemical safrole, (though
it's estimated that modern beer is 10 times more carcinogenic than old fashion
sassafras root beers banned by the FDA for the purported carcinogen, safrole).
After thirty years on the herbal black list, sassafras is in favor again
and is showing up in tea blends and formulas."
(The Comfrey Controversy by Rosemary Gladstar as quoted in Urban Herbalist,
http://urbanherbalist.me/?paged=2.)
Stay in touch with your physician or health care specialist.
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'The
Comfrey Controversy": Synergy
Synergistic Relationship Among Components
of Herbs
Snynergy= interaction of two or more substances to
produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
"The truth of the matter is that most plants reveal within their chemical
blueprint a wide variety of constituents, many of them potentially harmful.
These chemicals form a synergistic relationship with one another, often
nullifying and or strengthening certain aspects of one another. The sum
total of these hundreds of chemicals determine the personality, or action
of the plant."
"Studies conducted in Washington found very minute amounts of pyrrolizidine
alkaloids in comfrey. Some plants tested had none at all. Or as Paracelsus
said several hundred years ago, 'All things are poison and nothing is without
poison. It is the dosage that makes a thing poisonous or not.' "
(The Comfrey Controversy
by Rosemary Gladstar as quoted in Urban Herbalist, http://urbanherbalist.me/?paged=2.)
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'The
Comfrey Controversy": Inconclusive Research
Only a Few Questionable Cases of Problems
"However, of the thousands of people who use comfrey worldwide, only
three somewhat questionable cases have been identified, none of which conclusively
point to comfrey as the culprit. Three cases out of tens of thousands, perhaps
millions of people who use comfrey is not statistically significant enough
to ban its use."
Pharmaceutical Drugs Should be Judged by Same Standards
"If our pharmaceutical industry were subject to such standards, we would
have no drugs on the market at all. And very few herbs. Meanwhile, the Austrian
company that conducted the original tests verified that the tests were inconclusive
and in Japan, where the alkaloids were first discovered, doctors still continue
to recommend comfrey for cirrhosis of the liver."
(The Comfrey Controversy
by Rosemary Gladstar as quoted in Urban Herbalist, http://urbanherbalist.me/?paged=2.
Rosemary Gladstar wrote the popular books: "Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes
for Vibrant Health", "Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs", "Herbs for Natural
Beauty", "Herbs for Stress and Anxiety", "Herbs for Common Ailments", "Herbal
Healing for Women", and others.)
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