Popular Natural Remedies, Part XVII

This will be the 17th in a series of articles that I have written about natural products. Whether those of us in "established" medicine, physicians, pharmacists, and nurses, like it or not, natural products are very much part of the landscape in the self-treatment of medical conditions by a significant percentage of the population of the United States. The purpose of these articles is to write about natural products to which there are some valid, documented clinical trials pointing to their usefulness in treating a given disease state. As I have noted in the past, the five references that I use for writing these articles are The Pharmacists Letter Natural Products Database, The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, The German Commission E List, Tyler's 4th Edition on Natural Products, and Facts and Comparisons.

The first natural product that I wish to discuss is clove oil. Clove oil is described in The German Commission E List as useful dentistry as a topical anesthetic. For many years clove oil was rated safe and effective by the FDA it was a Category 1. It was a product our great-great-great grandparents used. Recently, however, the FDA has reclassified clove oil as Category 3, meaning there's insufficient data to support its efficacy, per The Pharmacists Letter Natural Database. However, in Europe, The German Commision E List still supports its eficacy. Per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, the principle active ingredient of clove oil is eugenol. There are also at least six other products contained in clove oil, but it's the eugenol that exerts the pharmacological activity. Older pharmacists, like myself, will remember that when we graduated from pharmacy school and patients complained of a toothache, clove oil was one of the first things that we advised they use for the relief of toothache symptoms. I still do not necessarily personally disagree with that advice, although lack of clinical data supporting clove oil does give me some cause for pause. Per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, even though clove oil may be useful in toothache relief, there are newer products for the treatment of conditions such as dry socket, etc., that are probably superior. Per The Pharmacists Letter, the eugenol in clove oil depresses sensory receptors involved in pain perception by the inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis. Adverse side effects of clove oil have to do more with the oral consumption of clove oil for other disease states that I have not mentioned rather than its topical application. The German Commission E List does not list any particular side effects associated with the topical use of clove oil. Per The Lawrence Review, it is noted that the eugenol in clove oil sometimes causes local allergic reactions. Again, per The German Commission E List, there are no drug interactions. However, The Pharmacists Letter notes that clove oil should be used with caution in people who are taking anticoagulant therapy, since, in theory, the comitant use of clove oil and an anticoagulant drug on platelets could cause excessive bleeding.

Even though this is the start of Summer, and their blooming is just about over, I thought I would mention a plant that everyone will see growing - dandelions. Per Tyler's book, Honest Herbal, dandelion is useful in treating warts, fungus, infections, external and internal malignant growths, ulcerations of the urinary passages, obstructions of the liver, gall bladder, and spleen. It is a laxative, a stomach remedy, a promoter of healthy circulation, a skin toner, and blood vessel cleanser and strengthener. Theoretically, dandelion cures rheumatism, badly affected arthritic joints, and makes a marvelous tonic. With that kind of description, all of us should feel guilty about putting weed killer on these "noble" plants with the yellow flowers. When I was 18 years old and going into pharmacy school, my grandmother, who was a long-time librarian in the sleepy little Ohio River town of Shadyside, gave me a brochure from the Agriculture Department in 1902. In that brochure, the Agriculture Department told farmers how to collect dandelions in order to sell them to the pharmaceutical companies to be made into the medicinals of the time. One of the principle uses for dandelions back in 1902, was for the "derangements" of women. The German Commission E List lists the medicinal parts of the dandelion as the bitter principals of lacucopicirn, triterpenoids, and phytosterol. Per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, dandelion is one of natures richest green vegetable sources of beta keratin, from which vitamin A is created, with 14,000 units of vitamin A per 100 grams of leaf, versus 11,000 units per 100 grams in carrots. Per both The Pharmacists Letter Natural Products Database and The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, the only two documented medicinal effects of dandelion are its diuretic and its hypoglycemic effects (blood sugar lowering). When considering the diuretic effect in medicinals, we can go back to that 1902 Agriculture publication, where dandelion was used for the bloating of the menstrual cycles of women, which was called in those days, "the derangements of women." None of my reference books listed any adverse reactions for dandelion outside of the possible contact dermatitis, which would be true from any drug from a plant source. As far as drug interactions, dandelion could interact, per The Pharmacists Letter, with antacids, antidiabetes drugs, diuretics, histamine-2 blockers, lithium, and proton pump inhibitors. The German Commission E List lists a normal dose of dandelion as 1 tablespoon of cut drug per cup of water or 10-15 drops of commercially available tincture in water or juice 3 times a day.

Another product that is listed in The German E List, and is used in countries as close to us as Canada, is dill seed. While The Lawrence Review of Natural Products judges dill seed to have insufficient reliable evidence about its effectiveness, the authors of The German Commission E List would disagree, and it is listed in the National Compendium of Drugs paid for by the national health insurance. The main use for dill seed is as an antispasmodic for the GI tract. There are other advertised uses for dill seed, but none are listed by The German Commission E List as official indications. Per both The German Commission E List and The Pharmacists Letter, the active ingredient of dill seed is the chemical carbone. Per both publications, there are no known interactions with drugs, food, or lab tests. The dose of seed daily, per The German Commission E List, is approximately 3 grams. In the pediatric preparation dill seed is used in a product called gripe water, which was the first natural product I ever personally used. When my wonderful daughter, who will be a junior at O.U., was a baby, she suffered from a common condition called infant colic. My daughter would literally cry incessantly for 12 hours a day. Gripe water is a concoction in which one of two seeds, either fennel or dill, are used. The recipe for gripe water is one teaspoon of dill seed or fennel, one tablespoon of light Karo Syrup and one quart of water, boil for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, strain off the seeds and make as many 2 oz. bottles as possible. Gripe water is discarded after 24 hours, as it is not considered a sterile preparation and should not be used for longer periods of time. It was probably effective in a third to half of the time in relieving my daughter's colic. Interestingly, grip water is sold commercially in Canada.