CONSUMERS OF ALCOHOLIC-HERBAL BEVERAGES RISK LIVER AND KIDNEY DAMAGE - EXPERTS

In Nigeria, alcoholic-laced herbal beverages have a long history, with many people consuming them for medical purposes. However, their production and consumption have skyrocketed in recent years.

Health experts believe this development offers substantial health concerns, and they believe there is a need for more regulation and education about the dangers of consuming them.

Until recently, such herbal drinks were commonly employed as a treatment for a variety of health issues. However, they have become a growing threat in Nigeria, with many people, particularly those living in the suburbs, consuming them without understanding the inherent dangers. Furthermore, these drinks are frequently marketed as natural and safe.

They are frequently sold in unregulated marketplaces and are made by fermenting herbs, roots, and other natural substances with alcohol. They do not have to adhere to the same safety regulations as commercial alcoholic beverages.

One of the numerous worries concerning alcoholic herbal drinks is the possibility of hazardous components being present.

This reporter went to Jikwoyi, Zuba, Nyanya, Dutse Alhaji, and Lugbe, which are some of the satellite towns in Abuja's Federal Capital Territory, FCT, where these alcoholic herbal drinks are widely sold and consumed.

According to data, most of the drinking establishments in the locations come alive in the early morning and late at night.

Some customers said they resorted to drinking alcoholic herbal beverages because they could get high quickly with a small amount of money while also acting as a drug for a specific ailment.

However, a recent study titled "Nigerian Psychoactive Alcoholic Herbal Mixture Impacts, Behavioural Performance, and Caused Brain Biochemical and Histopathological Alterations in Mice" conducted by researchers from the University of Ibadan, Oyo-State, discovered that alcohol herbal mixture caused neurobehavioral and biochemical perturbations in mice.

Following acute and subacute administrations of an alcoholic herbal mixture combined with ethanol, mice showed an increased reduction in locomotor activity and impaired motor coordination. 

The study also found evidence of behavioral alterations such as anxiety and impaired working memory, as well as brain chemistry changes such as elevated oxidative stress indicators.

According to the study, ingesting an alcoholic herbal cocktail may cause substance-related harm and hasten neurodegenerative illnesses in people.

Some herbal drinks contain high concentrations of methanol, a toxic alcohol that can cause blindness and death, interact with medications, and aggravate pre-existing health conditions.

The Nigerian government has taken steps to address the issue of alcoholic herbal drinks, including the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of certain brands. However, enforcement of these prohibitions is frequently lax, and many people continue to manufacture and sell them illegally.

According to the health expert, standardisation denotes the quantity or amount of substance required to get a given result.

Mathias observed that because alcoholic herbal beverages do not have a fixed dosage, there is a lack of standardisation, which may cause content to differ from region to region.

He further stated that they are harmful to one's health because alcohol is an addictive chemical that can build up tolerance in one's system.

Giginna Mathias, the Director of Savehealth Pharmacy in Port-Harcourt, stated in an interview that standardisation, a fundamental issue in medicine formulations, is lacking in alcoholic herbal beverages.

"The issue with herbal formulations, generally, before you start talking about alcohol itself, is that they lack standardisation.

"Standardisation actually means the quantity or the amount of that substance that you need to take that will give you a specific result.

"Let's say, for instance, you are using it to treat malaria, what is the quantity you need to take that will give you malaria treatment? And is it uniformly the same dosage formula across board?

"For instance, if you say you are using 'dogo yaro' to treat malaria, what is the dosage of 'dogo yaro' in it? Is it the same dosage you are going to use in Ibadan, Enugu or Lagos whenever you want to take it?

"Since it does not have a specific dosage, there is a lack of standardisation. And the content can differ from region to region. In other words, you are not actually sure of what you are taking.

"Then, when you go further to add alcohol to it and call it a 'alcoholic herbal formulation' as we have in the market now, it poses a risk because alcohol is a substance of abuse and a substance that can build up a tolerance.

"And with the perception that it has the ability to treat a kind of particular ailment because a lot of people who take it have the perception that if they drink herbal formulation, that if they are sick with malaria, typhoid or any other thing that a herbal part of it will take care of whatever sickness they have.

"So they tend to take it more than it is supposed, which exposes them more to internal organ damage and kidney and liver dysfunction.

"These are very much prevalent, and you can attribute it to too much consumption of all those herbal alcoholic formulations that are everywhere in the market because they lack standardisation and uniform basic formulation.

"And there is no approval system basically in terms of NAFDAC, Pharmaceutical Council, or regulatory agencies ensuring that what the manufacturers sell today is what they will sell tomorrow. So it is more of a health risk."

He stated, "There is basically no reason for someone to wake up under trado-medicine and start formulating alcoholic drinks, beverages, or alcoholic herbal beverages to sell in the market without standardisation of the process."

Meanwhile, Mr Hyacinth Obayi, a Plant Physiology and Biotechnology expert at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, stated that herbal remedies have not been dosed.

Obayi discovered that alcoholic herbal beverages endanger the human kidney, liver, or any other vital organ when deadly levels are not found.

He said, "Herbal remedy for now has not been segmented in terms of dosage. These people formulate alcoholic herbal drinks locally, if you ask them the dosage, they will tell you that you can take as much quantity as you want because it is a natural product, which is not correct.

"Every drug has its lethal dose at which the effect will now become negative instead of positive.

"So, the implication is that the herbalist, to say, may not have determined the lethal dosage at which it will become a problem to the human kidney, liver or other essential organs.

"This is because, for every drug, the transformation takes place in the liver. At the end of the day, if the chemical content in that substance becomes higher than what the liver can transform, it will become an issue.

"So the problem is that they have not been able to actually determine the right dosage to be taken, which of course determines the bioavailability in the human system.

"In essence the challenge lies in the bioavailability and dosage determination, which may harm the liver and the kidney."

Credit: D.P