Abstract
Objectives : It is well known that vegetables and fruits contain minerals, including potassium, sodium and phosphorus etc. Though most oriental herbal medications are made of natural plants, western scientists suppose that they also contain certain amounts of minerals and so are injurious to kidney disease such as chronic renal disease. However, by the reason of the limitation of western medical treatment on kidney disease, many patients depend on oriental medical treatment, which includes taking oriental herbal medicine. So, in order to find out the mineral contents in oriental herbal medicine, and to establish the oriental herbal medication's safety in kidney disease, studies were performed. Methods : In this study, we analyzed 42 oriental herbs commonly used in kidney disease by the Inductively Coupled Plasma(ICP) method. Results : 1. The potassium and sodium contents of oriental herbs were 3-10 times as much as of food. 2. The mineral contents of a daily dose of oriental herbal medicine satisfied the restriction of dietary mineral in CRF, though the amount of mineral intakes by food was considered. Conclusions : The mineral contents of oriental herbal medicine are less than the limits of mineral restriction in renal failure. The yielded results, we carefully suggest that oriental herbal medicine does not induce accumulation of minerals or damage in kidney disease patients.
