Did you know that more than 23,000 visits to the emergency rooms occur annually due to complications from taking dietary supplements?
It’s not uncommon to take dietary supplements. According to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), more than half of all Americans use at least one dietary supplement, and many use more than one. Dietary supplements are manufactured products intended to provide your body with nutrients it’s lacking. The supplements may interfere with prescription medications you are taking. If you are taking a prescription medicine and are considering taking a dietary supplement, talk to your health care provider first.
Interactions between dietary supplements and prescription medicines can occur in several ways:
These side effects are known as “adverse drug interactions” or “drug-herb interactions.”
For example, St. John’s wort, an herb used for depression, can interact with several drugs, including birth control pills, blood thinners and antidepressants. Another is example are with antibiotics or antivirals. These drugs can interfere with the absorption of certain minerals from food sources (such as iron and zinc) if taken at the same time as a multivitamin supplement containing those minerals.
It’s important to tell your healthcare provider about all of the medications and supplements you take because they may interact with each other in ways that could harm you or make a drug less effective. You should also discuss your use of over-the-counter medications such as cold remedies or allergy medicines because these have active ingredients that could cause problems when combined with prescription drugs.
