Mistletoe

Research corpus coverage

Chemistry notes

• CHEMISTRY: Relevant reported constituents include viscotoxins; lectins; constituent presence alone does not establish clinical efficacy.

Traditional / historical use

Documented traditional use — not a claim of established efficacy.

• TRADITIONAL: Mistletoe has been used for traditional cardiovascular uses; adjunctive cancer care in Europe; this records historical/traditional use and does not establish efficacy.

  MODERATE · regulatory monograph · WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants

Modern evidence

• EVIDENCE: For the major use set (traditional cardiovascular uses; adjunctive cancer care in Europe), the evidence assessment is insufficient: Insufficient/low-certainty cancer evidence; trials often have major bias; not a proven cancer treatment.

  LOW · randomized controlled trial · WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants

Forms used traditionally

A listed form does not imply it suits every plant part, or that one preparation is interchangeable with another — see the plant’s own notes below.

Cats & dogs

• High risk

  Ingestion of mistletoe can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension, bradycardia, difficulty breathing, weakness, and abnormal behavior in dogs and cats; severe toxicosis is uncommon and usually follows ingestion of a large amount.

  Intrinsic toxicity · OTHER · whole plant · HIGH · regulatory_guidance · Take the "Oh No!" Out of Your and Your Pets' Holiday "Ho- ...

Additional safety notes (general, unstructured)

Free-text safety notes carried from their source — not broken out by species, route, or hazard type, and not equivalent to the structured records above. Each note names the kind of source it came from.

• SAFETY: Major issues include Oral poisoning causes GI, cardiac and neurologic toxicity; injections can cause allergy/anaphylaxis. Contraindications/cautions include Pregnancy; autoimmune disease; unsupervised injection.

  HIGH · observational/case series and expert review · LiverTox: Herbal and Dietary Supplements

• SAFETY: Clinically relevant interaction concerns include Potential interactions with immunotherapies, antihypertensives and cardiac drugs.

  MODERATE · observational/case series and expert review · LiverTox: Herbal and Dietary Supplements

  Some interactions are theoretical or based on case reports/pharmacokinetics rather than outcome trials.

• SAFETY: Pregnancy/lactation reference: Avoid in pregnancy/lactation.

  MODERATE · regulatory monograph or evidence synthesis · WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants

  Absence of evidence is not evidence of safety.

• Ingestion of mistletoe can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension, bradycardia, difficulty breathing, weakness, and abnormal behavior in dogs and cats; severe toxicosis is uncommon and usually follows ingestion of a large amount.

  HIGH · regulatory_guidance · Take the "Oh No!" Out of Your and Your Pets' Holiday "Ho- ...

Taxonomic identity note

• Mistletoe is treated here as Viscum album L. in the family Santalaceae; recorded older names include Viscum laxum Boiss. & Reut..