Drinking ordinary brewed green tea is generally very different from taking a concentrated green tea extract.
Green tea extracts are found in some:
* weight-loss products
* “fat burner” supplements
* energy formulas
antioxidant supplements
Concentrated extracts have been linked to cases of acute liver injury.
NIH’s LiverTox database documents clinically apparent liver injury associated with green tea extract, including rare severe cases requiring transplantation.
The risk appears to be uncommon, but it illustrates an important point: concentrating a plant into capsules can expose the body to much larger doses of certain compounds than drinking the plant as a normal beverage.
## 7. Kava
Kava is an herbal product sometimes promoted for relaxation, stress, or sleep.
However, kava supplements have been associated with cases
of serious liver injury.
Reported problems have included:
* hepatitis
* severe liver damage
* liver failure
* rare cases requiring liver transplantation
The FDA has previously issued warnings about the potential for severe liver injury with kava-containing supplements.
People with existing liver disease or those taking medications that affect the liver should be particularly cautious.
## 8. Multi-Ingredient Herbal and “Detox” Supplements
One of the biggest challenges with herbal supplements is that a product may contain many ingredients at once.
Examples include products marketed for:
* weight loss
* bodybuilding
* “liver cleansing”
* detoxification
* energy
* metabolism
* sexual
performance
When a supplement contains ten or twenty ingredients, identifying which ingredient caused a reaction can become difficult.
Herbal and dietary supplements account for a recognized proportion of drug-induced liver injuries, and multiple herbal ingredients—including green tea extract, kava, Garcinia cambogia and others—have been implicated in published cases.
A supplement marketed as a “liver detox” should therefore not automatically be assumed to protect the liver.
Ironically, some herbal products promoted for liver health have themselves been associated with liver injury.
## 9. Creatine in People With Kidney Problems
