Toxicology and Drug Interactions of Nutraceuticals

This chapter attempts to summarise and tabulate many of the better known adverse toxicological and drug–drug interactional effects of nutraceuticals and botanical supplements. Because of the large scope of these subjects, an extensive literature list is provided in the “References” section of the chapter. The safety properties of nutraceuticals are, in general, poorly studied, and there is absolutely no reason to assume that these products are “safe” for use in humans or animals despite claims of longstanding cultural or dietary use. Given this context it is possible that many problems currently go unrecognised and the burden of adverse effects may be substantially underestimated. This situation will likely continue until a shift towards a regime premarket regulatory approval with mandatory post-market pharmacovigilance is applied in higher-risk and/or data-poor substances.