The Wikipedia article seems to state otherwise:
“Industrial usage of the plant for sweets was prohibited in Germany in 1974, due to coumarin, the flavorant found in woodruff, being toxic to rats and mice in studies. It has, however, not been found to be harmful to humans, even in large doses, in which it follows a different metabolic pathway.”
Humans metabolize it mainly to 7-hydroxycoumarin, a compound of lower toxicity, and no adverse effect has been directly measured in humans.
I’d say that “not directly measured” isn’t quite the same as “it’s not toxic”. It’s not like ethical research is just going to administer significant daily dosages of suspected toxins to human research subjects.
Granted, it’s also not very conclusive and it’s probably safe to stop worrying about it for now. The sugar in most products with waldmeister is clearly a bigger issue.
The Wikipedia article seems to state otherwise: “Industrial usage of the plant for sweets was prohibited in Germany in 1974, due to coumarin, the flavorant found in woodruff, being toxic to rats and mice in studies. It has, however, not been found to be harmful to humans, even in large doses, in which it follows a different metabolic pathway.”
It says this:
I’d say that “not directly measured” isn’t quite the same as “it’s not toxic”. It’s not like ethical research is just going to administer significant daily dosages of suspected toxins to human research subjects.
Granted, it’s also not very conclusive and it’s probably safe to stop worrying about it for now. The sugar in most products with waldmeister is clearly a bigger issue.