Department of Gynecology, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, 04021-001, Brazil.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, 05508-010, Brazil.
Phytother Res. 2018 May;32(5):796-810. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6020. Epub 2018 Feb 8.
The indiscriminate use of herbal medicines to prevent or to heal diseases or even the use for questionable purposes such as weight loss has received both interest and scrutiny from the scientific community and general public alike. An increasing number of women put their own and the unborn child's health at risk due to a lack of knowledge about the phytochemical properties and adequate use of herbal medicine (phytomedicines or herbal supplements) and lack of communication with their healthcare provider. The purpose of this narrative review was to summarize the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and their potential toxic effects to highlight the importance of caution when prescribing herbal medicines or supplements for women, because, in addition to suffering interactions and a great amount of information obtained in preclinical predictive studies, assessment of nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, genotoxicity, and teratogenicity of traditional medicinal herbs still remains scarce in the clinical setting.
草药的滥用，无论是用于预防还是治疗疾病，甚至是用于减肥等有争议的目的，都引起了科学界和公众的关注和审查。由于缺乏对植物化学成分特性的了解，以及对草药（植物药或草药补充剂）的正确使用，越来越多的妇女使自己和未出生的孩子的健康处于危险之中，并且她们也缺乏与医疗保健提供者的沟通。本综述的目的是总结妊娠期间草药的使用情况及其潜在的毒性作用，以强调在为妇女开草药或补充剂时要谨慎，因为除了遭受相互作用和大量的临床前预测研究获得的信息外，在临床环境中，对传统草药的肾毒性、神经毒性、肝毒性、遗传毒性和致畸性的评估仍然很少。
