Holistic remedy found to contain harmful metals

Ayurvedic medicines — herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West — are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a new study.

One-fifth of the nearly 200 concoctions tested contained levels of the toxic metals.

Dr. Robert Saper, a Boston University professor of family medicine who led the study, said the findings should spur the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start clamping down on the largely unregulated world of pills, herbs and powders classified as dietary supplements.

Ayurveda is a traditional Indian practice that takes a holistic approach to wellness, employing herbal medicine, meditation and exercise to promote good health. It exists alongside modern medicine in India, with its own network of clinics, hospitals and colleges serving hundreds of millions of patients.

It has spread throughout the world and has been popularized by figures such as Dr. Deepak Chopra.

A 2002 survey estimated 750,000 U.S. residents have used the herbal preparations.

Saper became interested in the supplements in 2003 after a man of Indian origin showed up at a Boston-area emergency room with seizures. The cause was lead in the man's ayurvedic medicines. In an initial study published in 2004, Saper bought 70 ayurvedic products imported from India and found that the toxic metals were common components.

It was an unsettling finding, because most of the medicines are intended to be taken as a daily regimen to improve health.

"Many, many studies are showing that even small levels of lead in the blood can increase the risk of high blood pressure, kidney dysfunction and decreased IQ," Saper said.

Ayurvedic practitioners lashed out at the research as alarmist, saying it only showed there were problems with mixtures from India and not with U.S.-made products.

They pointed out that in India, many of these metals are purposely blended with herbs as part of the medicinal recipe. Those metallic mixtures are rarely used in the United States, they said.

In the new study, Saper and his team analyzed 193 medicines purchased from 25 Web sites for Indian and U.S. manufacturers. The vast majority supposedly contained only herbs and no metals.

About 80 percent of the samples showed no detectable metal content.

But among the remaining samples, the toxic metals showed up at similar rates in U.S. and Indian-made products.

Of the U.S. products, 21 percent contained lead, 3 percent contained mercury and 3 percent had arsenic. Among the Indian-made medicines, 17 percent had lead, 7 percent had mercury and none contained arsenic.

The researchers and other experts surmised that the contamination had less to do with the manufacturing process than the soils in which the herbs were grown.

"The raw material is all coming from India," said Kush Khanna, who runs Bazaar of India in Berkeley, Calif., a manufacturer of ayurvedic medicines started by his father in 1971.

Heavy metals showed up in 17 of the products the researchers ordered from his company.

The researchers found only two products that exceeded the World Health Organization standards for lead content. Both mixtures were from India and purposely prepared with metals as ingredients.

Jennifer Rioux, a medical anthropologist who runs the Integral Ayurveda clinic in Chapel Hill, N.C., said the research underscored the need for consumers to consult with ayurvedic experts instead of buying and taking products on their own.

She noted that the study showed that many medicines are perfectly safe, but she worried that its conclusions would tar her profession.

"All people need is one study to provoke fear about an entire system of medicine," she said.