Toxicity potential of nutraceuticals
A large number of people believe that nutraceuticals, especially medicinal plants, are important remedies to address health issues with no side-effects. This belief has been raised from the fact that they have been used for a long period without serious toxicities. Although this is true for a wide variety of nutraceuticals and they generally have less side effects in comparison to pharmaceuticals, conventional medicine is considered that if a drug is to be effective, inevitably, it will have toxic or side-effects. The medical establishment considers herbal medicines as drugs, and as such, they must have side effects. Therefore, they need to be prepared with correct ingredients and used with caution, too.
People consume thousands of species of plants and other nutraceuticals to meet their basic nutritional needs, but only a limited number of them have received significant safety studies. Many remain poorly understood and largely undeveloped, and their wild relatives are threatened with extinction and in need of conservation attention. Stewardship of these valuable plant resources will require rigorous science combined with an approach that respects and values traditional knowledge systems.
Anti-toxicity of nutraceuticals
Most of the synthetic drugs possess toxicity properties, and nutraceutical compounds, particularly herbal nutraceuticals have been investigated for their potential in combating the toxic effects of toxins and other medications.
Although the toxicology of drugs is complex, there is great evidence for involvement of oxidative stress in the toxicity of a wide variety of drugs. Most plants possess antioxidant activity and other than various specific ways to combat toxins and synthetic drugs, they generally may reduce their toxicity by reduction of oxidative stress. Kidney and liver are two organs which more than others are involved in toxic effects of other drugs as well as toxins. In this regard there are a wide variety of studies investigating the protective activities of nutraceuticals, especially medicinal plants against toxins and other drugs and promising results have been achieved.