The use of herbal medicine has been on the rise over time. Herbal medicines were used during pregnancy to treat nausea and vomiting, reduce the risk of preeclampsia, shorten labour, and treat common colds and urinary tract infections.
Different studies have shown that many women use one or more herbal medicines during pregnancy for managing vomiting and nausea, reducing the risk of preeclampsia, managing urinary tract infections and common colds, and shortening the duration of labour.
Even though herbal medicine is readily available compared to other medicines, the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy has been controversial. Even the safety of the most commonly used herbs in pregnancy, including ginger, lemon, kolanut, green tea, garlic, and bitter kola, in high amounts is a concern.
In fact, researchers in a new study, cautioned against the use of Aerva lanata, an herb that is consumed as a tonic by pregnant women to relieve stomach pains and prevent miscarriage.
In the early stages of pregnancy, they said its use may be harmful because of the possibility of it interfering with the development of the testis and sperm production in the unborn baby later in the future.
The researchers had investigated the effect of the testes of offspring of dams treated with crude aqueous extract of Aerva lanata and extrapolated their findings to humans.
For the test, the water extract of Aerva lanata was administered to the dams during specific periods of pregnancy, and later they considered its effect on litter size, body weight, and the testes of the offspring of the treated dams.
They found that the testes of pups from animals that had the water extracts of Aerva lanata showed varying degrees of disruption and distortion in sperm count and motility in a dose-dependent manner. Also, it caused a significant reduction in the number of pups/litter and pups weight.
The implantation loss, abortive properties, and sperm motility were assessed on the roots and aerial parts of the plant using doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight, and the study documented a 20% and 30% pre-implantation loss and a pregnancy failure of 30% and 40%, respectively.
The researchers suggested, however, that the decrease in the number of pups may have been due to its reported abortifacient effect, causing the abortion of foetuses.
“These findings may have implications for the consumption of Aerva lanata during pregnancy. The implications of these findings for human fertility and pregnancy require further investigation,” they concluded.
Aerva lanata, commonly referred to as mountain knotgrass, is called Ewi-owo, Ewe Aje (Yoruba), or Furfurata (Hausa). It has been reported to be used to treat kidney-related infections, fever, guinea worm infection, diabetes, bleeding from a cut, and eye disease.
The study carried out at the University of Benin, Benin City, and published in the 2023 edition of the International Journal of Reproductive Biomedicine involved Raphael Eguono Uwejigho, Ph.D., Kingsley Afoke Iteire, Ph.D., and Felix Udawmojo Enemali, Ph.D.
Moreover, previous studies have questioned the safety of other things like ginger, lemon, kolanut, green tea, garlic, and bitter kola in pregnancy.
For instance, a study suggests that the intake of too many kola nuts in early pregnancy to alleviate morning sickness can induce abnormal changes in the baby’s developing brain because of the caffeine content in kola nuts. It also delays the maturation of the baby’s developing brain.
This study published in the journal PLoS observed that pregnant dams administered the kola nut extract were more active and aggressive than the negative control dams that did not receive the extract.
Also, the kola nut-treated dams showed some difficulty walking on the grid and flared their hind limbs when picked by the tails.
There was also evidence of impairment of motor control and posture (balancing) in kola nut-treated dams, as they showed some difficulty walking on the grid and flared their hind limbs when picked by the tails.
The researchers declared that “our findings may necessitate public health campaigns to enlighten pregnant women in particular and the entire population in general about the potential risks of excessive or chronic consumption of kola nuts.”
Previously, a review reported that ginger is not a safe herb for pregnancy. It is a potential cause of miscarriage with high doses. Aside from this, higher doses of ginger can cause thinning of the blood, stomach discomfort, and heartburn.
Garlic enhances a woman’s immune system which, in turn, helps women have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. Eating garlic during pregnancy is important to reduce the risk of preeclampsia and protein retention in the urine.
However, pregnant women with thyroid disorders should avoid its use. Pregnant women should also avoid using garlic prior to surgery, including a caesarean, as it may interfere with blood clotting. Another untoward effect of using garlic during pregnancy is that it may aggravate heartburn.
The untoward effects of using herbal medicine during pregnancy need further investigation for many herbs. Thus, pregnant women should be more cautious, especially until clinical trials are conducted to identify the amount of any herbal medicine safe for use during pregnancy.
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