Mixing Medications and Dietary Supplements Can Endanger Your Health
Español When you take prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medications, do you also take a vitamin, mineral, or other dietary supplement? Have you considered whether there is any danger in mixing medications and dietary supplements? There could be. Certain dietary supplements can change absorption, metabolism, or excretion of a medication. If that happens, it can affect the potency of your medication, which means you may get either too much or too little of the medication you need. Dangers of Mixing Medications and Dietary Supplements Dietary supplements are widely used and include vitamins, minerals, and other less familiar substances—such as amino acids, botanicals, and botanical-derived ingredients. Tens of millions of people in the U.S. take some kind of dietary supplement along with a prescription medication. Combining dietary supplements and medications could have danger ous and even life-threatening effects. For example, drugs for HIV/AIDS, heart disease, depressio...