Supplement Interactions With Common Medications
Many botanical ingredients have documented interactions with prescription medicines through additive effects or liver enzyme pathways.
1 July 2026Read →
Extract ratios, standardisation percentages, bioavailability and how to judge any supplement label.
Many botanical ingredients have documented interactions with prescription medicines through additive effects or liver enzyme pathways.
Ingredients within a blend are listed in descending order by weight, which lets you infer relative amounts even without individual figu
Major allergens must be declared on supplement labels, but cross-contamination statements are voluntary and inconsistent.
Heat, humidity and light degrade botanical extracts, vitamins and especially live cultures.
A certificate of analysis documents laboratory testing of a specific production batch for identity, potency and contaminants.
Testing a complete formula in humans costs far more than citing ingredient studies, and supplements face no requirement to do it.
Research doses are the amounts used in published human trials, and they define the only conditions under which a result was actually ob
A structured comparison beats an hour of marketing copy because the panel is the only part held to a standard.
Percent Daily Value shows how much a nutrient contributes to a reference daily intake based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
A small minority of weight-loss and performance supplements have been found to contain undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients.
FDA registration means a facility has told the agency it exists; FDA approval is a review of a specific product before sale.
Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are regulated as food rather than drugs, with no premarket approval for safety or effectiveness.
Colony-forming units measure viable bacteria at a stated point in time, usually manufacture or expiry.
Water-soluble vitamins in excess are largely excreted; fat-soluble vitamins accumulate and can cause harm at high intakes.
Curcumin's absorption is poor enough that most research either adds piperine or uses an engineered delivery system.
Cassia cinnamon is cheap and contains coumarin; Ceylon cinnamon contains far less and costs more.
Other ingredients such as magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide and rice flour serve manufacturing functions rather than nutritional ones
Third-party certification means an independent laboratory has verified that a product contains what its label says and is free of speci
A product can truthfully claim its ingredients are clinically studied while never having been tested itself, at its own doses, in its o
A proprietary blend lists several ingredients under one total weight, so you see what is present but not how much of each.
The Supplement Facts panel is the only legally regulated part of the packaging, and it answers most purchasing questions faster than th
Mangosteen pericarp contains xanthones, notably alpha-mangostin, with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in laboratory studies.
Bioavailability is the fraction of an ingested compound that reaches circulation in active form.
A standardisation percentage states how much of a named active compound an extract contains, such as 95% curcuminoids or 90% glucomanna
An extract ratio such as 10:1 means ten parts raw material were concentrated into one part extract, so the dose represents a larger raw