[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Comfrey

On Wed, 19 Jun 1996 22:19:09 -0700, in alt.folklore.herbs Kent and Kat Dyer
<kdyer@nash.tds.net> wrote:

>I use comfrey tincture in conjunction with witch hazel & arnica for my 
>bruise juice (which can only be used on unbroken skin due to the arnica). 
> It is my understanding that comfrey (or boneknit) should not be used 
>internally...studies show that it contains pyrrolizidines which cause 
>serious liver damage & cancer in laboratory animals.

...which is why there's an entry on Comfrey in the medicinal herbfaq. If pure
alkaloids give lab rats liver problems, then the plant will give liver damage to
humans, right? Wrong.

The research with pure alkaloids on rats was why it was banned in the UK (and is
still banned in Finland), and the faulty logic behind this research is what NIMH
used to get the UK authorities to lift the ban on using of Comfrey.
So nowadays comfrey leaves are allowed as foodstuff in the UK.

Read up on this in the European Journal of Herbal Medicine, Vol.1, No.1:
Margaret Whitelegg: 'In Defence of Comfrey'.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress             HeK@hetta.pp.fi            Helsinki, Finland
http://sunsite.unc.edu/herbmed FTP: sunsite.unc.edu or sunsite.sut.ac.jp
      /pub/academic/medicine/alternative-healthcare/herbal-medicine/
Medicinal and Culinary herbFAQs, plant pictures, neat stuff, archives...
References: