Drug-Nutrient Interactions
What you don’t know can hurt you.
A recent study conducted by the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) surveyed family medicine
residents and their knowledge about Drug Nutrient Interactions (DNIs).
The results were less than impressive when, after an assessment of 834 residents was
conducted, eighty-three percent (83%) reported that they had no formal training in medical
school on drug-nutrient interactions. However, seventy-nine percent (79%) expressed that
it is the physicians responsibility to inform patients about drug-nutrient interactions.
It was also expressed that pharmacists, nutritionists and registered dietitians should be
responsible for knowing the importance of drug-nutrient interactions and informing the
patients, too. (Lasswell, et al., 1995)
Research has extensively covered the effects of nutrient ingestion
on the pharmacological effectiveness of drug dosing. From a nutritional perspective,
however, many practitioners are not aware of how the drugs that
their patients are already taking, or self-medicating, affect nutrient absorption and the
impact it has on the effectiveness of nutritional supplementation.
This is especially dangerous for the fast-growing elderly population, who takes more
medication than any other population group. (Thomas, 1995)
According to the American Dietetic Association; There are eight classes by which drug-nutrient interactions can be categorized:
1) inappropriate supplementation or diet restriction;
2) drug induced nutrient deficiency;
3) loss of metabolic control interactions
(e.g. undesirable altering of glycemic control in diabetic patients);
4) loss of therapeutic efficacy of the drug;
5) incompatibility (e.g. taking certain drugs with alcohol causing toxicity),
6) appetite altering,
7) gastrointestinal,
8) and tube feeding (e.g. administering a broad spectrum antibiotic which
causes diarrhea and nutrient depletion).
(Lewis et al., 1995)