Growing evidence health supplements interact with many prescription drugs
NEW YORK — As millions of Americans consume over-the-counter herbal and botanical supplements in a bid to boost health, there is increasing evidence that these products can interfere with a wide range of prescription medications used to treat everything from cancer to depression to high blood pressure.Recent studies have found that a greater number of supplements than previously thought may affect the way certain enzymes in the body metabolise drugs.Some supplements may inhibit the enzymes’ ability to break down a drug and clear it from the body, causing medication to build up to potentially toxic levels and even cause overdose.Other supplements may increase the rate at which a drug is broken down, clearing it from the body too quickly to be effective.Botanicals, for example, can interfere with drug-metabolising enzymes in the liver, stomach and intestines and proteins in the blood that can alter the way drugs are distributed throughout the body.Researchers at the University of Minn...
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