Research lacking

"TCM does have toxic side effects on the liver and kidneys. Liver damage induced by TCM is generally due to the lack of acknowledgement of the drug's toxicity," Luo Daluo, a Beijing-based TCM doctor told the Global Times, noting that the safety of TCM is closely related to the dosages taken. He said another cause is that patients take the drug over a long period, such as a year or more, which is too long and does not accord with TCM theory.

An article published in Practical Preventive Medicine, pointed out that limited knowledge of TCM and its toxicity is an important factor that causes TCM-induced liver damage, and found that the drugs used for preventative health care were the most common cause of the condition. It also said that most patients have relatively long treatment process when it comes to TCM, with more than 43 out of 157 patients taking TCM for more than two months.

In 2011 TCM fever reached a peak, when a TCM diet therapist caught public attention by claiming that a diet of mung beans and eggplants could cure almost all diseases.

Luo noted that even though individual drugs can have a certain level of toxicity, the compatibility of medicines in each prescription can reduce this toxicity, and the doctors' job is to find a balance to make the prescription more effective. "But that's still a difficult job," Luo said. "We need to deepen research into it."

Zhou Sufang, a doctor with the Guizhou Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine said in a research paper in 2010 that even though research into TCM's toxicity on the liver has been strengthened, the toxicity level of over 90 percent of TCM remains unknown and requires systematic research.

Reports have detailed the lack of knowledge regarding how the elements of TCM actually work, and its potential toxicity combined with the lack of knowledge has been a massive barrier to its sale on the international market. But TCM backers have received some good news in recent times, after a research report on the safety of TCM won first prize in the State Council's National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology on January 10.

The research project, which took place over 10 years, explained how herbal ingredients work and analyzed the classic theory of TCM through modern biological mechanisms, which may pave the way for TCM to be more comprehensively understood.