Choose a herb or spice and this lookup shows who should take care with it, as this site’s page for that herb sets it out: pregnancy, breastfeeding, babies and children, medicines, surgery, the liver and kidneys, allergies and the quality of products. Every note is copied word for word from the herb page, together with the sources the page names, such as the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), LiverTox and LactMed. It gives no doses, and it never tells you that a herb suits you.
How it works
The list holds the 32 herbs and spices that have a page in the herbs and spices section of this site, and nothing else. Each of those pages ends with a safety section made of short notes, each with a label in bold, such as “Pregnancy and breastfeeding” or “Medicines”. The lookup copies those notes exactly, along with the paragraph that opens the section and, for guduchi and neem, the warning each page opens with. It also copies the page’s description of the herb’s taste, energy and effect on the doshas where the page lists them, and the line of sources at the foot of the page.
You can read every note for one herb, or choose a topic. A note belongs to a topic when its own label names it, or when its text speaks to that topic. The garlic note headed “Bleeding”, for example, speaks of anticoagulants and aspirin and of telling your surgical team, so it appears under medicines and under surgery, and the clove, gotu kola and turmeric notes on medicines, which say to tell your surgical team or to take special care before surgery, appear under surgery too. A note that only names a source, such as LiverTox, is not placed under the liver for that. Every note’s text was checked against this rule. The last choice in the herb list compares one topic across all 32 pages, with a count of how many pages have a separate note on it.
Reading the result
Read the notes as the page means them. Most of the pages draw a firm line between the herb as ordinary food, such as a pinch of cumin in a dal, and concentrated products such as capsules, extracts and essential oils. The cautions are mostly about the second.
A missing note is not a sign of safety. Several pages say plainly that none of the sources we checked has a dedicated page on that herb, which is true, for example, of cardamom, cumin, coriander, fennel, tulsi and triphala. Where a page says that, the lookup shows it, so that you can see how thin the evidence is. Where a source has rated a herb, the page gives the rating: LiverTox, for instance, gives guduchi its category A, a well-established cause of liver injury, and the turmeric page says it rates turmeric supplements as a likely cause (category B). Those pages, and the neem page with its warning about neem oil, deserve to be read in full.
Where traditions differ
The classical texts and the materia medica that followed them, such as the Bhavaprakasha, describe each herb by its taste, its energy, its effect after digestion and its action on the doshas, and they record traditional uses. The safety notes here come from modern reviews instead, because the classical picture was never tested the way a medicine is. The two can pull in different directions: a herb the tradition counts as a rasayana, a substance for long-term nourishment, may carry a modern liver warning, as guduchi and ashwagandha do. The lookup shows the tradition’s description and the modern safety notes side by side and does not try to settle the difference.
Teachers also differ on details of the traditional profile, such as whether fennel is mildly cooling or mildly warming, and on which plant a name means: the brahmi page explains that in several regions the name is also given to gotu kola, a different plant. Where a page records such a difference, the lookup shows the page’s words.
What it does not do
It does not give any dose or amount for a health purpose, and it does not say whether a herb is right for you. It does not ask about your health, and the topic you choose is not stored or sent anywhere. It covers single herbs as this site describes them, not the many products and blends sold under their names, whose contents and quality vary. It does not add notes from sources the herb pages do not cite, such as the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Before taking any herbal product, please speak to your doctor or pharmacist and tell them everything you take; for Ayurvedic treatment, see a registered practitioner (BAMS in India). Please read the medical disclaimer.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Where do the safety notes come from?
From this site's own herb pages, copied word for word. Each page reports what NCCIH, LiverTox or LactMed say about the herb and lists those sources at the foot of the page. The lookup shows the same list of sources with every result.
↳ If a herb has no note on pregnancy or medicines, is it safe?
No. A missing note means the page has nothing separate to say, often because no source has studied it. In pregnancy, while breastfeeding, for a child, before surgery or with regular medicines, ask your doctor or pharmacist before taking any herbal product.
↳ Does the lookup cover herbs used as food?
Yes, and most pages treat ordinary cooking amounts as the baseline. The cautions are mainly about capsules, extracts, oils and other concentrated products, which are not the same as a spice in a meal.
↳ Why is my herb not in the list?
The list holds only the 32 herbs and spices that have a page on this site. We do not add safety notes for a herb we have not written about with sources.
↳ Does the lookup tell me how much of a herb to take?
No. Neither the lookup nor the herb pages give a dose for a health purpose. A doctor, a pharmacist or a registered Ayurvedic practitioner can advise on your own situation.
↳ Which herbs carry the strongest liver warnings?
On this site's pages, guduchi carries LiverTox's category A, a well-established cause of liver injury, and turmeric supplements, ashwagandha and aloe vera carry category B. Choose "The liver and kidneys" with "All herbs" to read every page's note.