USA Today, April 24, 2016.
Americans are taking more prescription medications. They also are taking more supplements — everything from vitamin and mineral pills to fish and flax seed oils. The natural result: More are combining drugs and supplements. That may be riskier than many consumers realize.
“It’s a serious concern, and the risk is growing,” says Dima Qato, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Qato led a recent study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, documenting increased mixing of all sorts of medications and supplements among U.S. adults ages 62 to 85. The study found that 87% used at least one prescription medication, 38% took at least one non-prescription drug, and 64% used at least one supplement. Many took multiple drugs and supplements.
But Qato says that “the trend is not reassuring” and that the analysis included only the most-used supplements and drugs and the most serious known reactions. Many combinations have never been studied, she says: “Their safety is largely unknown.”