Original InvestigationPathogenesis and Treatment of Kidney DiseaseWormwood (Artemisia absinthium) for Poorly Responsive Early-Stage IgA Nephropathy: A Pilot Uncontrolled Trial
Section snippets
Methods
We enrolled patients of either sex with biopsy-proven IgA nephropathy who were aged 18-35 years with persistent proteinuria with protein excretion >500 and <3,500 mg/d in the previous 3 months or longer despite dual RAS inhibition and excluded those with exposure to steroids before the study. We selected patients who had undergone kidney biopsy not more than 2 years before the study, with normal kidney function (serum creatinine <1.5 mg/dL, creatinine clearance >90 mL/min, and estimated
Results
We recruited 4 women and 6 men aged 19-33 years (mean, 26.4 ± 4.4 years) with body mass index of 18-27 kg/m2 (mean, 22.4 ± 3.3 kg/m2) and plasma creatinine level of 0.7-1.3 mg/dL (mean, 1.11 ± 0.25 mg/dL). All had previously received a trial of fish oil without success with respect to proteinuria decrease. Data for the time of discontinuation of fish oil therapy in individual patients were not available. No patient had received steroids before study entry. Because of well-preserved kidney
Discussion
At present, the most powerful prognostic factor in IgA nephropathy is the level and duration of proteinuria. The longer and higher the proteinuria, the worse the prognosis.1 To avoid end-stage renal disease, in addition to rigorous control of blood pressure, a decrease in proteinuria is critical. Apparently these goals can be met using wormwood supplementation without undue side effects in patients for whom dual ACE-inhibition and ARB therapy is working poorly. We also observed significant
Acknowledgements
Support: Wormwood (Seda-Leukin) capsules were a generous gift from Noorherbals.
Financial Disclosure: Aside from that reported in the previous section, the authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.
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2013, American Journal of Kidney DiseasesCitation Excerpt :Similarly, we acknowledge that some herbs included in the NKF list may have potential benefits. Senna, for example, is widely prescribed for constipation and a recent uncontrolled pilot trial found that wormwood significantly decreased proteinuria in 10 patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy.37 However, given the lack of consistency between products,26,38 the lack of rigorous safety or efficacy testing, and the tendency for patients to believe people are rarely or never harmed by supplements,21 it is important to raise awareness of potential harm.
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Originally published online as doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2010.06.025 on September 15, 2010.
Trial registration: www.isrctn.org; study number: NCT01126931.