Yellow Oleander Seed, or "Codo de Fraile" (Thevetia spp.): A Review of Its Potential Toxicity as a Purported Weight-Loss Supplement.

The Dietary Supplements and Health Education Act (DSHEA), passed by the United States Congress in October of 1994, defines herbal products as nutritional supplements, not medications. This opened the market for diverse products made from plants, including teas, extracts, essential oils, and syrups. Mexico and the United States share an extensive border, where diverse herbal products are available to the public without a medical prescription. Research undertaken in the neighboring cities of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, USA, shows the use of herbs is higher in this border area compared to the rest of the United States. A portion of the population is still under the erroneous impression that "natural" products are completely safe to use and therefore lack side effects. We review the dangers of ingesting the toxic seed of Thevetia spp. (family Apocynaceae), commonly known as "yellow oleander" or "codo de fraile," misleadingly advertised on the Internet as an effective and safe dietary supplement for weight loss. Lack of proper quality control regarding herbs generates a great variability in the quantity and quality of the products' content. Herb-drug interactions occur between some herbal products and certain prescription pharmaceuticals. Certain herbs recently introduced into the U.S. market may not have been previously tested adequately for purity, safety, and efficacy. Due to the lack of reliable clinical data regarding the safe use of various herbal products currently available, the public should be made aware regarding the possible health hazards of using certain herbs for therapeutic purposes. The potentially fatal toxicity of yellow oleander seed is confirmed by cases reported from various countries, while the purported benefits of using it for weight loss have not been evaluated by any known clinical trials. For this reason, the use of yellow oleander seed as a dietary supplement should be avoided.

Intoxicações causadas pela ingestão de espécies vegetais em ruminantes / Poisoning caused by ingestion of plant species

As espécies de plantas tóxicas se fazem presentes em jardins, quintais, áreas de produção agrícola e pastagens, de forma que desde o inicio das civilizações as substâncias químicas presentes nas espécies vegetais eram utilizadas para o preparo de remédios e para a produção de venenos. Ao longo do tempo e com o avanço da ciência, tais substâncias tornaram-se conhecidas, e assim, melhor estudadas, e dentre os princípios tóxicos de maior importância encontram-se os alcalóides, glicosídeos, ácido monofluoracético, cumarinas, toxalbuminas e substâncias histaminóides e lantandenos A e B. No Brasil, a invasão de pastagens por plantas potencialmente tóxicas e prejudiciais à saúde do rebanho é uma característica que denuncia o mau manejo e a má utilização dos recursos forrageiros por parte dos produtores de animais destinados a produção de carne e leite. O pastejo em uma área com baixa disponibilidade de forragem induz os animais a buscarem outras fontes alimentares, aonde estão inseridas espécies com princípios tóxicos que ao serem ingeridas provocam danos ao organismo animal ou até mesmo o óbito, o que ressalta a necessidade de estratégias de manejo das pastagens, bem como o fornecimento adequado de suplementação alimentar aos animais em épocas de escassez, evitando possíveis ingestões das espécies tóxicas.(AU)

The species of toxic plants are present in gardens, yards, areas of farming and grazing, so that from the beginning of civilization the chemicals present in plant species were used to prepare medicines and for the production of poisons. Over time and with the advancement of science, such substances have become known, and thus better worked and studied, and among the toxic principles of greater importance are the alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, monofluoracetic acid, coumarin, toxalbumins, phytotoxins, histamines and A and B lantandens. In Brazil, the invasion of pastures by potentially toxic and herd health harmful plants is a feature that exposes the mismanagement and misuse of forage resources by livestock producers for the meat and milk production. The grazing in an area with low forage availability leads the animals to seek other food sources, where are inserted species with toxicological principles which when ingested cause damage to the animal organism or even death, underscoring the need for pasture management strategies and adequate provision of supplementary feeding to animals in times of shortage, avoiding possible ingestion of toxic species.(AU)

Intoxicações causadas pela ingestão de espécies vegetais em ruminantes / Poisoning caused by ingestion of plant species

As espécies de plantas tóxicas se fazem presentes em jardins, quintais, áreas de produção agrícola e pastagens, de forma que desde o inicio das civilizações as substâncias químicas presentes nas espécies vegetais eram utilizadas para o preparo de remédios e para a produção de venenos. Ao longo do tempo e com o avanço da ciência, tais substâncias tornaram-se conhecidas, e assim, melhor estudadas, e dentre os princípios tóxicos de maior importância encontram-se os alcalóides, glicosídeos, ácido monofluoracético, cumarinas, toxalbuminas e substâncias histaminóides e lantandenos A e B. No Brasil, a invasão de pastagens por plantas potencialmente tóxicas e prejudiciais à saúde do rebanho é uma característica que denuncia o mau manejo e a má utilização dos recursos forrageiros por parte dos produtores de animais destinados a produção de carne e leite. O pastejo em uma área com baixa disponibilidade de forragem induz os animais a buscarem outras fontes alimentares, aonde estão inseridas espécies com princípios tóxicos que ao serem ingeridas provocam danos ao organismo animal ou até mesmo o óbito, o que ressalta a necessidade de estratégias de manejo das pastagens, bem como o fornecimento adequado de suplementação alimentar aos animais em épocas de escassez, evitando possíveis ingestões das espécies tóxicas.

The species of toxic plants are present in gardens, yards, areas of farming and grazing, so that from the beginning of civilization the chemicals present in plant species were used to prepare medicines and for the production of poisons. Over time and with the advancement of science, such substances have become known, and thus better worked and studied, and among the toxic principles of greater importance are the alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, monofluoracetic acid, coumarin, toxalbumins, phytotoxins, histamines and A and B lantandens. In Brazil, the invasion of pastures by potentially toxic and herd health harmful plants is a feature that exposes the mismanagement and misuse of forage resources by livestock producers for the meat and milk production. The grazing in an area with low forage availability leads the animals to seek other food sources, where are inserted species with toxicological principles which when ingested cause damage to the animal organism or even death, underscoring the need for pasture management strategies and adequate provision of supplementary feeding to animals in times of shortage, avoiding possible ingestion of toxic species.