In a recent paper1 I corroborated the work of Allen2 on blueberry leaf extract, now called "myrtomel," and extended it further by investigating its effect on thyroid hyperglycemia and glycosuria. Because of the possible demand for blueberry leaf extract in treating patients with mild diabetes, it seemed imperative at this time to study the effect of overdosage with blueberry leaf extract, particularly since von Noorden3 published data purporting to show that this drug causes focal necrosis in the liver following intravenous injection. It seemed to me that this method of biologic assay is unwarranted, since the preparation of the drug available at the present time is too crude for parenteral, least of all intravenous, injection. Because of these considerations, it seemed important to determine whether the oral administration of the drug in dosages even greater than those prescribed for man exerted any detectable deleterious effect.
METHODS
Four dogs were put