Centella Asiatica Extract

Not found on any prescription-drug, professional-treatment, or US OTC monograph list, so it is treated as a cosmetic ingredient. This is a passive default ("not on any known restricted list"), not an individually verified positive finding.

The EU medicines agency's herbal committee says of centella on the skin: 'Safety during pregnancy and lactation has not been established. In the absence of sufficient data, the use during pregnancy and lactation is not recommended' (EMA 2022). That covers the herb itself (1.8 g a day, up to a week); cosmetics hold at most about 0.5% extract (CIR), a lower exposure never tested in pregnancy. Two trials of stretch-mark creams in pregnant women (1991, 2013) measured stretch marks, not safety. That is a statement about missing data, not a sign of harm, so we mark it unknown. We still recommend products with it.

• Reference: EMA Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC)

  cutaneous: not recommended in pregnancy and lactation (insufficient data) · 4.6: 'Safety during pregnancy and lactation has not been established. In the absence of sufficient data, the use during pregnancy and lactation is not recommended.' Herb 1.8 g/day, <= 1 week.

• Reference: EMA HMPC (rapporteur A. Assisi)

  reputed abortifacient (traditional literature, second-hand) · Assessment report 5.5.5; no developmental toxicity data.

• Reference: Johnson W Jr, Bergfeld WF, et al. (CIR Expert Panel)

  safe as used when non-sensitizing; max use about 0.5%; no DART data

• Reference: Mallol J et al.

  efficacy trial in pregnant women (stretch marks) · Centella extract cream from ~12 weeks; the endpoint was stretch marks, not safety.

• Reference: Garcia Hernandez JA et al.

  efficacy trial in pregnant women (stretch marks) · Multi-ingredient cream; the endpoint was stretch marks, not safety.

• Reference: Brennan M et al.

  Cochrane review: outcomes were stretch marks · 6 trials, 800 women; no safety outcome.