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Ensuring Safety and Quality in Supplements and Herbal Medicine |
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Written by Braxton Ponder
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3 4 Herb-Drug Interactions
Another area of concern is adverse drug-herb interactions. Fortunately these appear to be few, but the possibility needs to be considered. St. Johns Wort, for example, has been found to interfere with several classes of drugs. In theory, anything you ingest has the potential to interfere with the metabolism of anything else you ingest. Always follow instructions on how and when to take supplements and herbal medicines, as well as pharmaceuticals.
A more common problem is duplicating the actions of a pharmaceutical prescription with an herbal formula or supplement. For example, many herbs, supplements (and over the counter drugs) can affect the blood-thinning actions of warfarin (coumadin).
This is a rapidly growing area of study. Books on the subject are likely to be dated. Read the package inserts for any pharmaceuticals you take. You can also check the Healthnotes resource, which is licensed to numerous online companies and in-store kiosks. One publicly available access point is at the Pure Encapsulations web site, in their Health Library section: www.purecaps.com/ClinicalEssentials_index.asp
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