Gummy Vites. Strawberry Flavored Fish Oil. Super Kids Salve.
Gum-omile Oil. Children’s Echinacea. Herbs for Kids.
Squeezed onto the shelves of your local drugstore, near the baby aspirin and children’s Robitussin, is a steadily growing crowd of colorful supplements and herbs specifically for children.
To many parents, these products are a safe first-defense against the aches and pains of childhood, ones that can be tried before drugs with their sometimes risky side effects.
“I trust Western medicine,” said Los Angeles resident Lauren Sands, while shopping at the Santa Monica Homeopathic Pharmacy recently for her 5-month-old son.
“I just want to know if there is something gentler for a little boy.” Other parents use the products as a tried-
and-true, less-expensive alternative to medication. Many of these parents are uninsured, but not all.
“When I ask them about herbs and supplements, more and more of my patients are saying, ‘Yes, I am using these products with my kids,” said Dr. Paula Gardiner, a clinical research fellow at Harvard Medical School. But doctors and health experts are only just now beginning to fully understand how many parents are turning to such products. As they do so, they’re scrambling to quantify the products’ use, their risks and their benefits.
Gardiner, for example, who has done extensive research on alternative therapies, is doing her best to mine existing data. Other doctors are trying to come up with guidelines to help pediatricians talk to parents about herb use.
“What we are saying is, ‘Ask the question,”‘ said Dr. Sunita Vohra, who sits on a committee of the Provisional Section on Complementary, Holistic and Integrative Pediatrics for the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is developing a set of guidelines for herb use in children. A few researchers, such as naturopathic doctor Wendy Weber of Bastyr University in Seattle, are conducting clinical trials on kids and herbs. Weber has been studying the effectiveness of echinacea in treating colds in children, the possibility of using a certain herb to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and examining the potential of St. John’s wort to treat depression. So far, she says, the results have been mixed.
The need for more information is crucial. Most doctors are not trained in herb use and researchers are still uncertain of how herbs interact with conventional drugs.
“All their organs are still developing,” said Dr. Kathi Kemper, head of holistic and integrative medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “Their brains are still developing. They have higher metabolisms. Their hearts beat faster.” Children are also more susceptible to toxic substances, such as lead, that can affect their nervous systems, said Kemper, author of “The Holistic Pediatrician.” And there is a fair risk of contamination in herbal products, she said, because herbs, unlike conventional drugs, are not tested before they reach the market.
Despite the risks, she and a growing number of physicians say, parents who want to use a more natural remedy can safely do so – for some conditions. The key is to know the risks and the limitations of herbs, be on the alert for side effects, and let the child’s doctor know of any supplements, because they might interact with medications.
“If the child’s tummy ache improved with peppermint, it’s better for the peppermint to get the credit than an unused prescription, and it helps the pediatrician know what’s working and what’s not. Also, it’s important to know in case the child has an allergic reaction, and to check for potential interactions.” Traditionally, mothers relied on parents and relatives with more experience to share their community’s folk remedies.
Indeed, many of the popular plant remedies people used on children two centuries ago were passed down from generation to generation until the advent of penicillin, says Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, an industry trade group. With the development of the antibiotic, parents began to turn to outside experts to treat even mild childhood diseases.
By 1980, when the herbal product market began to take off, most of that traditional knowledge had been lost.
Today’s commercially prepared potions, pills and salves, however, don’t come with the collective folk wisdom garnered from years of use.
These days, parents – or their kids – are largely on their own with the products. The dangers are often unexpected.
Parents should especially avoid Chinese patent medicines (ready-made preparations from traditional Chinese herbalists) and Ayurvedic medicines made outside the United States, physicians and herb experts say. A small study last year found that 20 percent of 70 Ayurvedic herbal products sold in ethnic groceries in the greater Boston area contained enough lead, mercury and arsenic to be toxic if used as directed. Half of those dangerous products were specifically recommended for pediatric use.
Gardiner, the alternative medicine researcher, said she often encourages patients to use the herbs that are already in their kitchens. Ingredients such as oatmeal and chamomile are calming, and garlic and oregano can ease cold and flu symptoms, she said.
Vohra sees herbs and supplements as pediatrics’ newest sub-specialty.
“If you have an area that affects approximately one-half of patients,” she said, “you would think that all pediatricians should know a little about it.”
