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Aristolochic Acid

Back in May of 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified health care professionals, the dietary supplement industry, and consumers that botanical products containing aristolochic acid could cause kidney disease and some types of cancer. Typically, aristolochic acid has been found in weight loss supplements but are also found in some supplements that help with intestinal problems, cough, and immune dysfunction. The FDA has urged consumers to stop buying and using “any botanical products containing aristolochic acid.”

Even though the FDA warned the supplement industry and consumers, the University of California at Berkeley, in 2003, still identified 19 products sold in the U.S. that contain some form of the toxin and another 95 products suspected to contain the toxin. They also found 100 sites that still sold the toxin through the internet. Supplement consumers need to be aware of this, and they also need to take notice that aristolochic acid may be listed in the ingredients label under other names such as “Aristolchia,” “Bragantia” or “Asarum.”

For more information on aristolochic acid, go to: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-bot.html

 

Claimed Health Benefits

 

Food Sources

None

 

Dosage

Any dose can be harmful. The FDA strongly urges consumers to avoid taking any supplement containing aristolochic acid.

 

Evidence for Health Benefits

In 1982, a study was conducted looking at the effects of aristolochic acid on rats. The investigators found that even very low doses of aristolochic acid caused rapid growing tumors in the rats. In fact, aristolochic acid is listed among the top 2% of chemicals that cause cancer in the Carcinogenic Potency Database (1).

As of the year 2000, there had been nearly 100 reports of people in Belgium with kidney disease because of taking a weight loss supplement containing aristolochic acid. Seventy of these individuals had to be put on dialysis or required a kidney transplant.

It was also reported in the U.K. in August of 1999, two patients were suffering from end-stage kidney failure caused by aristolochic acid.

 

Cautions

No one should be taking any dietary supplement that contains aristolochic acid because it has been linked to kidney disease and some types of cancer. Again, the FDA has urged consumers to stop buying and using “any botanical products containing aristolochic acid.”


Here is a list of botanical products that the FDA has determined to have aristolochic acid:

Rheumixx
BioSlim Doctor's Natural Weight Loss System Slim Tone Formula
Prostatin
Fang Ji Stephania
Mu Tong Clematis armandi
Temple of Heaven Chinese Herbs Radix aristolochiae
Meridian Circulation
Qualiherb Chinese Herbal Formulas Dianthus
Formulas Ba Zheng San
Clematis & Carthamus Formula 21280 (2 samples)
Virginia Snake Root, Cut Aristolochia serpentaria (2 samples)
Green Kingdom Akebia Extract
Green Kingdom Stephania Extract
Neo Concept Aller Relief
Mu Tong Clematis armandi
Fang Ji Stephania
Stephania tetrandra, roots, whole (1)

 

References

1. Gold LS, Seiger E, eds. Handbook of carninogenic potency and genotoxicity databases. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1997.

2. The Carcinogenic Potency Project. (2004) Aristolochic Acid, and Herbal Carcinogen, Sold on the Web after FDA Alert. http://potency.berkeley.edu/pdfs/NEJM.pdf Accessed February 11, 2004.

3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2004) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-botl2.html Accessed February 11, 2004.

4. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2004) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/addsbot.html Accessed February 11, 2004.