Australian doctors are warning that severe liver injury due to herbal and dietary supplements are on the rise, prompting calls for tougher TGA oversight of the products.

The gastroenterologists, from Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, analysed the medical records of 184 patients with drug-induced liver injury who were referred for liver transplant between 2009 and 2020.

Sixty-nine of the patients had non-paracetamol drug-induced liver injury (DILI), the doctors reported in the Medical Journal of Australia.

While these non-paracetamol admissions were evenly spread across the 11-year study period, the proportion due to herbal and dietary supplements increased from 15% (2 out of 11) in 2009 to 47% (10 out of 19) in 2018-20.