Prenatal vitamins are an important source of folate and other
vital nutrients during pregnancy. And many women, with the
popularity of herbal medicine, take other herbs during
pregnancy. Some of these herbs they may have been taking before,
for an existing condition. Others, they may take to help cope
with some of the physical difficulties that go with pregnancy.
The following supplements and food additives should be avoided
during pregnancy to avoid potential problems with the health of
the baby.
Quinine - Quinine is found in many drinks like tonic
water, and these are popular as a result of their slightly
bitter taste. But it was found that one woman who drunk more
than 1 liter of tonic water a day whilst she was pregnant had a
baby that was suffering withdrawal symptoms when it was born. It
had nervous tremors within a day of being born, which
disappeared two months later. Germany's BfR (Federal Institute
for Risk Assessment) recommends that pregnant women treat
quinine drinks, no matter how small the amount of quinine in
them, as a medicinal product, and avoid them as a precaution
during pregnancy.
Ginseng - One of the more than 20 active constituents of
ginseng was found by researchers at the Chinese University of
the Hong Kong Prince of Wales Hospital to be a
possible
cause for concern for pregnant women. These researchers were
measuring the effect of this active principle on fetal
development in rats. And they found that, relating to the dose,
rat embryonic development was affected. Higher doses meant a
higher level of abnormalities, according to the markers of
development their study used.
Now, this study was one done on rat embryos, and so may not
translate into similar effects on humans. And it only studied
the effects of one of ginseng's active constituents, which was a
ginsenoside called Rb1. Ginseng actually has over 20
ginsenosides, and other studies have found that these each have
different actions.
One of the difficulties with studying active constituents in
herbal medicine is that the whole herbal extract may have a very
different overall effect than a single constituent. This is
because of the way active principles both work together and
counteract each other. These two aspects, the fact that the
study was not done on humans, and does not measure the overall
effect of the whole ginseng extract, mean that its results
should be treated cautiously. As a safety precaution, at this
time it is best to at least avoid ginseng supplements during the
first trimester, as the authors of the study suggest, and
probably for the whole of the pregnancy. But ginseng should
certainly not be branded dangerous as a result of this research
as it is only a very preliminary finding in the overall picture,
and more points the way as to where further research needs to be
done.
Ginkgo Biloba - Ginkgo biloba is another supplement that
is best avoided whilst pregnant. Researchers at Wayne State
University in Detroit found one of the constituents of ginkgo
biloba in the placenta of women who had taken ginkgo
supplements. This particular constituent, an alkaloid called
colchicine, can be fatal in high doses, though medicinally, it
has great anti-inflammatory effects. Other research has found
that cochicine can harm a growing fetus. The potential problem
with taking ginkgo supplements regularly whilst pregnant is that
colchicine can build up in the womb, like caffeine when taken in
excess of the recommended maximum amounts. The researchers did
stress that there was no link established in the study between
ginkgo and complications in the pregnancy, the study only looked
at levels of colchicine in the womb.
References:
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=60554
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=25810
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=20934
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