Infants and Herbs

FDA researchers find infants being given potentially harmful herbal supplements.
The AP (5/2) reports, "New research suggests many US babies are fed herbal supplements or teas." A study by Food and Drug Administration researchers "was released Monday in the journal Pediatrics and is billed as the first to examine broad use of such products in American infants."
Bloomberg News (5/2, Ostrow) reports that the researchers found that "one in 10 infants are given herbal teas and supplements to ease digestion or fussiness." The investigators found that "gripe water, a formula containing ginger and fennel used for colic and gas, chamomile, an herb used in tea, and teething tablets, which may also contain botanical ingredients, were the most commonly used supplements."
WebMD (5/2, Goodman) reports that "the more weeks a mom breastfed her infant, the more likely she was to give the infant an herbal supplement or tea, the study found."