Barbara raises some good points in her post on herbs.  Herbs used at
therapeutic doses are legally food supplements but ethically are medications.
And that dose is not that well established for many herbs.

Beyond the consumers lack of control over the actual identity, or quality of a
specific herbal product (thank you FDA), and beyond the question of what
manufacturer are allowed to claim for their products, lies the body of
scientific literature that continues to show that many herbs have definite
pharmacological actions on the body. There is good information out there but
one must winnow it out from all the considerable hype ( see end of post for
great website )

Unfortunately the word "standardized" does not assure me all that much.  Just
because a company has "standardized" on the label does not guarantee that the
herbal product will contain the stated amount of a chosen phytoconstituent - a
recent survey of St. John's Wort showed quite a range of hypericin, even when
the product was labelled 0.3% hypericin - usually the amount was less than
stated (hmmm).

  Generally companies that produce standardized products have good quality
control programs, thus do test for the mentioned dirt, mold, etc.  But have
seen a herb product mis-using the term standardized to describe merely the
weight of the capsules - this company knows the word "standardized" can be
hyped, in the USA at least.  Only a handful of the most researched herbs are
standardized to a specific constituent.  Further, the phytoconstituent chosen
to be the standard may not be that important to the herb's action ( e.g.
current thinking on hypericin in St. John's Wort).

Sage and fenugreek are 2 examples of herbs that are not standardized, and
where the dose has not been established for use during lactation - though
Lactnet has given enough clues to anyone to do a research study to "establish"
fenugreek's therapeutic dose!

A major issue with herb safety is dose - just like it is with medications.  I
dare say if one takes enough of most medications, then serious effects will
ensue.  Further, even when taking the recommended dose of medications, adverse
effects happen to a fair number of folks (see any drug insert). So much for
absolute safety.  But I digress.

 Fennel oil is pretty deadly when taken internally, but fennel seed tea is
benign ( not that I'd feed it directly to young babies unless medically
indicated and even then I'd think twice about introducing a
sensitivity/allergic risk in a fully breast-fed baby).  Perhaps the report of
anise involved with seizures in babies involved directly administered anise or
anise oil?

 Peppermint - know that previous posts have suggested it as anti-lactogogue -
one source suggests taking peppermint oil can decrease supply. I do know that
directly administered peppermint oil or menthol have been known to cause
sudden respiratory collapse in infants.  Read the labels on those mentholated
products - they don't say the V---'s V-----b will do this, but warn against
use in children under 2 years old.  But serious reactions have occured when
the stuff is put in baby's nostrils to relieve congestion.

Some sources consider both licorice root and anise to be lactogenic.  If this
mom has oversupply problem, then perhaps there's a connection here???  Why IS
she taking those herbs?  Yes, large doses of licorice root will raise blood
pressure. A lot of medications do, but have good reasons why they are taken.
Daresay licorice is in that category.  Pre-existing hypertension is a
contraindications for use - information that is available in a reliable
text/source.  Chronic use is usually discouraged.

This is the syllabus address for a course taught in 1997 at the U. Maryland by
Jim Duke, ethnobotanist extrordinaire.  Food for thought, and educational as
regards the science of herbs and how to regard them variously as foods,
medicines, or poisons:

http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Colleges/LFSC/life_sciences/.plant_biology/MED
ICAL_BOTANY/index.html

Sheila Humphrey  BSc(Botany) RN  IBCLC
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