Liver Doc back in action on twitter, Takes on Ayurvedic health supplements like Aloe Vera and Ashwagandha, calls them garbage

Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, better known as 'The Liver Doc' on X is back once again with his war on the side effects of indiscrimiate use of Ayurvedic Supplements on social media.

Dr Philips, a hepatologist from Kerala has stated that the presence of specific ingredients in the ayurvedic supplements has led to the emergence of chronic liver disease in a patient who is currently receiving prolonged medical treatment. As a result, he has strongly called for prohibition on the use of herbal and dietary supplements.

Previously, the doctor made some statements that resulted in the suspension of his Twitter account. This action was taken after Himalaya Wellness Corporation filed a lawsuit in Bengaluru's civil court, accusing the doctor of making defamatory accusations against their products. However recently the court asked for the restoration of his account

TheLiverDoc wrote about how an Ayurvedic health supplement could endanger human life. "I have never seen a more devastating product that has harmed a person," he posted.

The doctor was talking about an antioxidant health supplement that a patient drank for 3 days (~ 30ml three times daily). Following this, the doctor claimed that the patient developed severe itching of his palms and feet along with dark urine and yellowness of his eyes (jaundice).

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"The very short use and associated severe liver injury are seen with most liver-toxic herbs. This is called idiosyncratic injury where adverse events happen even with a single dose and are not duration dependent. Thus dose and duration do not matter in idiosyncratic liver injury. In dose-dependent liver injury, dose and duration matter and are seen mostly with some modern medicines.

His problems did not end there. Even after removing this offending agent and treating aggressively, his liver injury progressed and he has now developed chronic liver disease due to prolonged herb-induced liver injury and is on life-long treatment for the same," claimed the doctor.

The doctor claimed that the supplement contained well-documented liver-toxic ingredients along with aloe vera, ashwagandha and turmeric.

Speaking about the ingredients, the doctor wrote, "Aloe vera as a dietary supplement is well known to cause liver injury and liver failure. Ashwagandha is so commonly used as a dietary supplement now (in the absence of solid clinical use), that many reports associated with its toxicity are emerging. We recently published a large series of Ashwagandha liver injuries.

Interestingly (but sadly), one patient in our series developed chronic liver damage due to Ashwagandha requiring lifelong treatment. The same happened with this new patient. Ashwagandha damages the liver cells through the presence of a bioactive plant compound called withanone, which binds with and destroys the cell DNA."

Further, he added, "Denmark has banned Ashwagandha supplements and other EU countries are contemplating the same. Turmeric (as a supplement, not in diet) is now the most well-known cause of emerging liver injury in developed countries due to its blind use as a health supplement. Turmeric supplements were given black box warnings in Italy and the Government prohibited its sales as a supplement after large numbers of liver injury and liver failure cases were reported. Australian Government also issued warnings."

According to him, the presence of multiple herbal components means the chances of liver injury or other organ damage are very high. The more complex the supplement is, the more dangerous it is.

"Please stay away from herbal and dietary supplements. They are garbage and not useful for any clinically relevant health benefits," said the doctor.

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Medical dialogues team had earlier reported that Dr Philips, who is known for voicing his opinion regarding Ayurvedic products, previously came under the radar of the Kerala State Medical Council for Indian Systems Of Medicine after he gave a controversial interview where he allegedly claimed that the use of certain herbs such as Giloy (chittamruthu) can be harmful to the liver.

The doctor also called the traditional branch of medicine called Ayurveda, a 'pseudoscience'.

Last year, he alleged that one of his patients died "due to Ayurveda herbals related liver and kidney injury and intercurrent infections, leading to multiple organ failure." In a Tweet, Dr Philips expressed how a clinically stable person became disoriented and pre-comatose position after consuming some Ayurvedic medicines.