Go easy on those herbal remedies

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Pregnant women should treat traditional medicine with caution.
This is the message that two doctors want to send out in the wake of the increasing interest in herbs and traditional medical practices.
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Patrick Chia and his colleague Dr S. Raman said some herbs could harm the foetus and mother.
"Herbs should be regarded as drugs and drugs have side-effects," he told reporters at the launch of a medical book Is My Pregnancy Normal?
He said few studies stated that traditional medicines were safe for pregnant women.
Some types of ginseng like pau sum could be harmful if taken in excess while a certain type of ginseng placed under the mother’s tongue could lead to excessive bleeding during delivery.
Kacip Fatimah and air selusuh could cause the uterus to contract, leading to the foetus defecating in the womb.
"Let’s look at this as a scientific issue, not fiction. Don’t simply take this herb and that herb if you do not know what the effects are," his colleague Dr Raman said, adding that many herbs could be poisonous.
Under the chapter on "Traditions and Traditional Medicines", they say that traditional practices such as melenggang perut, a common practice among Malays where the stomach is massaged to correct the baby’s position, could cause the placenta to separate prematurely.
The doctors’ best advice to pregnant mothers is to take folic acid and multi-vitamins three months before pregnancy.
This is to reduce the chances of the foetus developing brain and spinal cord problems for example, spina bifida, and these are the only fetal problems that can be prevented.
Their colleague, Dr Yap Moy Juan, said various complications could arise as women were increasingly becoming pregnant at a later age.
While more than 90 per cent of women sail through childbirth, the trend could change as people’s lifestyles change.
At 35, the age many women today start families, they only have a 15 per cent chance of becoming pregnant as their most fertile age is between 22 and 24.