NATURAL VAL: With its many fans of...

NATURAL VAL: With its many fans of holistic health, the Valley is fertile soil for sales of folk medicines made from herbs, flowers and other natural substances. . . . Trader Joe’s in Canoga Park sells a cold remedy made from the echinacea plant. A Sherman Oaks firm markets Amazon herbal tea--which looks like tree bark--for ulcers and arthritis.

ETHNIC HEALTH: Natural remedies are popular among immigrants. In the northeast Valley, neighborhood boticas sell organic potions used by Mexicans for a variety of maladies. The sick often seek help from curanderos, folk healers without formal medical training. . . . Some Vietnamese heat coins and press them against loved ones’ foreheads and necks to relieve fever or pain, a practice sometimes mistaken for child abuse.

INDIAN WAYS: Dhiren Patel, above, stocks more than 2,000 natural remedies at his Chatsworth store, called The Natural Way. He spent nine years in his native India learning ayurvedic medicine, a 5,000-year-old Indian system based on herbs. Among his products are “smart pills” made from the ginkgo tree, and “colonic cleansers” made from the psyllium plant. “People are fed up with [conventional] medicine” says Patel.

BEWARE: Health authorities warn that some folk remedies can be dangerous. . . . Dr. Maria Ortiz of the nonprofit Northeast Valley Health Corp. has seen several patients suffer ill effects from folk potions. Ortiz said one boy received a highly toxic dose of a botica mixture but recovered after the treatment was halted.

DANGER POWDERS: Some traditional potions sold in Latino communities contain high levels of lead and can make their users sick. One is a bright orange powder given for empacho, or intestinal illness. State health officials say the substance is almost 100% lead. . . . Powders used by Laotians for rash or fever and by Arabs for skin infections also contain lead.