ED Patients Commonly Use Herbal Remedies

Adolescents with eating disorders frequently use herbal remedies for various conditions and especially in an attempt to control their weight, according to a team at the University of Toronto (Int J Eat Disord 2004; 35:223).

Dr. L. Trigazis and co-workers studied 46 adolescent female volunteers, from 10 to 17 years of age, who were in a tertiary care pediatric eating disorder treatment center. The women met the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified. The participants completed a 92-item self-administered questionnaire that examined their use and knowledge of herbal remedies.

Of the 46 women, 37% reported using herbal remedies to decrease their appetite and to induce vomiting; 41% knew nothing about herbal remedies despite their use of these products. Only 24% reported that their physicians ever discussed herbal products or questioned them about using herbal remedies. The women reported that they did not use herbal remedies because of dissatisfaction with other types of medications or products.

The researchers also learned that the women did not regularly tell their physicians that they used herbal remedies, and that their physicians seldom gave them any information about using herbal products and the possible unpleasant or even harmful side effects of such products.

Because the perceived benefits, adverse effects and herb-drug interactions of self-prescribed herbal remedies by teens with eating disorders are still not understood, and much more research is needed in this area, according to the authors.