Silver Spring, MD—The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) shared the news that the December 2025 update of the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. features revisions to nine botanicals. The latest submissions, which feature changes to top-selling herbs including garlic, maca, milk thistle, and senna, bring the total number of updates, including additions, to 17 for 2025. AHPA first began publishing updates to the online version of its handbook in 2018. Since then, the organization has revisited 183 entires and added 10 new entires.
What’s new in AHPA's Botanical Safety Handbook
More than just a tool for manufacturers and individuals who recommend and/or use herbal products, AHPA’s Botanical Safety Handbook is a key source for the entire industry of safety information for over 500 different herbs. The following online entries have been updated in the December 2025 release:
- Allium sativum (garlic) - A literature review identified drug interactions studies and case reports, clinical trials with adverse event reporting, adverse event case reports, pharmacological studies, reproductive studies and toxicity assays.
- Apium graveolens (celery – leaf, stalk, and root) - This new entry documents food use, adverse event reports, pharmacology studies, and toxicity studies for celery leaf, leaf stalk, and root parts.
- Ceratonia siliqua (carob) - A literature review added a Food Use section, as well as studies in the pharmacology and toxicity sections.
- Epimedium spp. (horny goat weed) - A review of new literature identified adverse event reports, animal and in vitro pharmacology studies, and toxicity studies.
- Lepidium meyenii (maca) - A review added a food use section, clinical trials with adverse event reporting, pharmacology, pregnancy, and toxicity studies.
- Pausinystalia johimbe (yohimbe) - A literature review identified interactions studies, clinical trials reporting adverse events, case reports of adverse events, pharmacology and toxicity studies.
- Salvia spp. (chia) - A updated review added information about acrylamide content in roasted chia seeds, as well as a Food Use section, adverse event reporting in clinical trials, and pharmacology studies.
- Silybum marianum (milk thistle) - A review of recent literature added studies in the interactions, adverse events, pharmacology and toxicity categories.
Made up of data collected from clinical trials, pharmacological ad toxicological studies, medical case reports, and historical texts, all entries are assessed by an Expert Advisory Council whose members include some of the leading herbal and integrative medicine experts in the country. Access to the online Botanical Safety Handbook will be included with all 2026 membership renewals through the website’s digital resource library.
For more on these latest updates, please visit ahpa.org
