Health

Forty-two-year old, Seyi Adelakun, is an Opa Eyin addict. Opa Eyin is an herbal concoction that has the potency of healing many ailments. As a buff of this herbal medicine, Adelakun has no problems telling anyone that he has been on it for the past 12 years.

Indeed, his local personal physician, Iya Sidi, recommended it for him.

For Adelakun, therefore, this herbal concotion has performed wonders in his life, making him to survive many diseases that had afflicted him in the last 10 years plus. He believes in everything unorthodox and feels that using conventional medicines is nothing but a waste of money.

Interestingly, Adelakun is not the only one who has found favour in this unorthodox drug in his neigbourhood. Many of his neigbours-old and young- take delight in taking Opa Eyin and other herbs, which medical experts say, have no scientific evidence to prove their efficacy.

It is therefore not surprising that experts have raised the alarm, warning the likes Adelakun to avoid such herbal concoctions. Orthodox physicians also caution them to shun other herbal supplements. These unverified drugs, experts insist, have the tendency to exposing their users to terminal diseases, including kidney and liver failure.

According to the experts, any herbal medicines, whether from Asia, India or Africa used without proper prescription from a medical doctor can pose a danger to one’s health and wellbeing.

A pharmacist and former Chairman, Lagos Association of Community Pharmacists, Mr. Felix Aneih, says that many herbal products and medicines in the market are not prepared to cure any ailment but just to exploit the public.

Makers of such herbal products, he adds, are aware of the craze for herbal products, and so are ready to exploit the situation without considering their consequences on consumers’ health and safety.

He notes that though these concotions may come cheaper than conventional medicines, they often are not effective in the prevention and management of illnesses.

however that many the orthodox medicines are from plant sources, the pharmacist notes that they have been scientifically analysed. According to him, such drugs have also gone through painstaking procedures to ensure that they are safe and effective in the treatment of some specific ailments.

Aneih notes that the most grievous effect of herbal product is its effect on a patient, who uses it with other conventional medicines.

“Herbal preparations can be toxic and because they are taken raw, their effects are felt in the body system almost instantly. For instance, there are some chemicals in herbal medicines that if you combine them with normal drugs, their effect can result in death.

“Some people with heart disease and did not know, took herbal medicines and suffered cardiac arrest immediately and they died. Unlike conventional medications, herbal supplements do not undergo rigorous scientific study using randomised, controlled clinical trials that are designed to measure objective “end points.”

Besides, such unorthodox herbs, he adds, contain fake and counterfeit ingredients.

He notes, “For all you know, it may be powder that has been packaged and sold to you by overzealous marketers who are looking to make some cash.”

The National Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mr. Olumide Akintayo, who agrees Aneih however, that because the herbal medicines lack regulation, they are easier to attract the attention of counterfeiters.

Meanwhile, Canadian researchers, who last April tested 44 bottles of popular supplements sold by 12 companies, found out that they claimed what they were not. The researchers noted that the pills labelled as popular herbs were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by cheap fillers like soyabean, chalk, powder wheat and rice.

For the study, the researchers selected popular medicinal herbs, and then randomly bought different brands of those products from stores and outlets in Canada and the United States. To avoid singling out any company, they did not disclose any product names.

Of the 44 herbal supplements tested, one-third showed that they had been outrightly substituted with other substances, meaning there was no trace of the plant advertised on the bottle. Many were adulterated with ingredients not listed on the label, like rice, soybean and wheat, which are used as fillers.

In other words, they might have lacked the ginger, aloe vera, garlic, ginseng and other popular healthy herbs, their makers claimed that they contained.

In some cases, these fillers (grounded rice, soyabeans) used with a few chemicals just to make the products look medicinal though they were still substandard in quality.

The scientists said the research provided more evidence that the herbal supplement industry was riddled with questionable practices.

Public health physician added that though some herbal supplements were of good quality, as a rule, one should not use any herbal supplement not recommended by a doctor.