With today’s increase in the use of natural medicines to treat ailments, more and more potentially dangerous herb-drug interactions are occurring. Certain herbs or vitamins are well known to affect the rate at which the liver breaks down toxins (which ALL pharmaceutical drugs are to some degree).

A perfect example is coumidin and grapefruit. Grapefruit contains narengin, a substance well known to slow down cytochrome p450, the route that the body uses to break down coumidin. As a result, blood levels of coumidin rise and can make the blood dangerously thin.

On the other hand, herbs and vitamins are held to a higher standard. If one person has a reaction between ginko and blood thinners, than a red flag is thrown up against the rest of the world using the same combination. And yet, patients die every day from lethal interactions between pharmaceutical drugs (i.e. Viagra and heart medications).

With this info in mind, here are some important links to give you the information you need to make an informed choice….