I've hunted around and find nothing indicating any dangers of toxicity. FWIW, the depression study is not from former Soviert bloc countries.
It was done in Armenia, a former Soviet republic.
Two of the authors were Swedish, but it was done in Armenia.
Two ideas:
I understand the frustration of wanting to help your child and feeling powerless. It sucks.
Evidence-based medicine can't always help or can be a painful route to (maybe) getting better (think cancer treatments here). This also sucks.
This situation can leave people looking for other treatments, even if they haven't been tested as objectively as possible. Unfortunately, many people who sell these treatments have a conflict of interest (they're making money from selling them). So they take advantage of people in numerous ways, including persuading (or simply paying) people to extol their virtues.
Yes, the drug companies have these problems, but the drug companies also have the FDA and other non-US regulatory bodies keeping tabs on them, and independent researchers checking up on them. No, the system isn't perfect, but it's WAY more scrutiny than the CAM practitioners get.
But the CAM crowd is nice. They have better bedside manners and are gentle and very optimistic. When the evidence-based crowd is negative about treatment options and also criticizes untested remedies, the evidence-based folks come across as being shrill and mean and unsympathetic. And the CAM practitioners come across as being picked on for only trying to help when the other crowd doesn't care (the opposite is usually true, IMO.)
Yes, Lorenzo's oil was a wonderful treatment created by people who were operating outside the mainstream. But their treatment was also tested eventually, and AFAIK, those people weren't trying to make a profit. And they were a very rare exception.
You asked if anyone could look at the studies and provide information. I found some information that I felt was relevant to helping you understand the envirnoment around this herb.
In this case, there isn't a lot of evidence showing that the herb has toxicities, but AFAIK, it also hasn't been tested in children (the study at Penn is in adults, as was the Armenian study). I may be overcautious, but I would be
very careful about administering an untested compound to a child (anyone really) when it's deliberately being used to alter brain chemistry. This is because
I don't know what it might do.
So, sorry if I'm coming acorss as a bummer. I'm not trying to be mean or pick on you or anything like that. I'm only trying to say "Drug unproven, caution warranted, here's why."
