Risk of "Drug-Induced Nephropathy" from Excessive Herbal Use
Lately, Professor Li Leishi, a renal disease expert at the PLA Nanjing General Hospital's National Institute of Kidney Diseases, warned that increasing numbers of people suffer from nephritis and acute renal failure due to excessive herbal consumption, urging urgent awareness of herbal nephrotoxicity. Recently, cases of "herbal nephropathy" have been identified in Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing, with rising prevalence.
Studies show that herbs like Mu Tong (Aristolochia), Houpu (Magnolia bark), Fen Tuo Yi (Clematis root), and Xi Xin (Asarum) contain aristolochic acid, which causes tubular and interstitial damage, loss of brush border in proximal tubules, necrosis, resulting in renal glycosuria and low-molecular-weight proteinuria. Concurrently, distal tubular acidosis and hypotonic urine occur. Clinically, early stages present as oliguric acute renal failure, which easily progresses to chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis, difficult to treat, often advancing to end-stage renal failure. Thus, clinicians should monitor and investigate herbal nephrotoxicity to effectively prevent herb-induced kidney injury.