The doctors at the hospital couldn't figure out why John couldn't breathe, and he was getting scared. An elevated test result had given him a prostate cancer scare, but he did not have a tumor. The herbs had a hidden side effect of thickening the blood. PC-SPES is one of thousands of untested herbal remedies sold in health food shops.
Clots can break off and block crucial arteries, risking death.
The cases like John's stand as screaming warnings about the dangers of taking so-called harmless supplements without a physician's supervision, says Dr. Mark Adelman, a lung specialist. Health store employees seldom have much training in such interactions. The combination causes a strong response similar to estrogen, the female hormone. Studies on small numbers of people and in labs showed that the pills dramatically lower the levels of prostate specific antigen, an antibody made by the body when prostate cancer is present. An elevated PSA is an indicator of a tumor.