Buyer beware? Does the information provided with herbal products available over the counter enable safe use?

Table 2 St John's wort^a

Study number	1	2	3	4	67	70	72	75	30	31	32	41	48	58	61
Where bought	HF	HF	HF	HF	HF	HF	HF	HF	Ph	Ph	Ph	Ph	Ph	SM	SM
Legal category	U	U	U	THR	U	U	U	U	U	THR	U	U	U	U	U
Leaflet supplied?	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Precautions, n = 1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	1
Interactions, n = 8	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	7	8	7	0	7	0	0
Side effects, n = 7	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0

^aHF = health food shop, Ph = pharmacy, SM = supermarket, U = unlicensed, THR = traditional herbal registration, PL = product licence. Each product is listed by study number, where St John's wort was bought, legal category, whether a leaflet was supplied and the number of safety messages (under 'Precautions', 'Interactions' and 'Side effects').

ISSN: 1741-7015