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Herbs No Substitute for Antihistamines

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 7, 2006

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According to an article published in the British Medical Journal, an herb called butterbur may work as well as a popular antihistamine to treat hay fever.

Researchers studied 125 people with hay fever, which as you know can cause itchy red eyes, stuffy nose and sneezing.

Half the folks received a daily dose of butterbur for two weeks and half a common antihistamine.

Two weeks later, folks who received the herb said they felt better than the antihistamine groups. Case closed? Not quite.

First of all, the herb's manufacturer funded the study. Secondly, it only went on for two weeks. Do you know anybody who only suffers from hay fever for two weeks?

Not only do we not know the long-term effects of the herb or the difficulties it can cause, we don't have any research on how it affects asthma. The potency of the herb varies a lot and it can cause problems and can contain toxic chemicals.

For now, I'm sticking with regular antihistamines.

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