Dear Lacnetters,

I'm aware that the subject of herbal safety & breastfeeding has come up in
the past, but I have just received a weekly digest from a website with the
following information over comfrey and thought it might be a useful piece of
information. Although it does not include any info about breastfeeding, I
was under the impression that comfrey might be used in herbal preparations
taken by bf mothers? Might be completely wrong of course, herbology is not
something I know much (if anything) about.

"The use of comfrey in dietary supplements is a serious concern to FDA.
These plants contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, substances which are firmly
established to be hepatotoxins in animals. Reports in the scientific
literature clearly associate oral exposure of comfrey and pyrrolizidine
alkaloids with the occurrence of veno-occlusive disease (VOD) in animals.
The pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are present in comfrey, in addition to
being potent hepatotoxins, have also been shown to be toxic to other tissues
as well. There is also evidence that implicates these substances as
carcinogens. Taken together, the clear evidence of an association between
oral exposure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids and serious adverse health effects
and the lack of any valid scientific data that would enable the agency to
determine whether there is an exposure, if any, that would present no harm
to consumers, indicates that this substance should not be used as an
ingredient in dietary supplements."
 http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dspltr06.html

Sara Bernard Bsc
Biologist and bf counsellor in training