In today’s world we are all familiar with the tremendous amount of supplements and herbs filling drug store shelf’s that claim to help supplement our diet, but what we may not be aware of is how they interact with our medications or the many side effects they have.

Some questions you might want to ask yourself prior to taking a herb or supplement are;

• what does my physician recommend for dosing parameters?
• does this medication have a negative side effect if taken with other medications I am prescribed?
• is this a water or fat soluble vitamin? For instance, fat soluble vitamins can be very toxic if taken more than recommended because they stay in the body longer than water soluble vitamins. This creates a build up effect in the body and these medications can be “over dosed” on. The water soluble vitamins are B1, B6, B12, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium, Potassium, and Sodium. The fat soluble vitamins that you should be aware of are vitamin A, D , E, and K. the fat soluble vitamins should be taken with food. Since most herbs and supplements are not Food and Drug Administration approved it is important that we do our research before ingesting something that could cause us more harm than good.

To find out more about specific drug, food, or side effect interactions for supplements or herbs check out www.webmd.com or ask your primary care physician.