Are medications depleting you of nutrients?

Medications are prescribed to make you feel better or help you manage illness and disease, but all medications can have side-effects, that’s why they come with an interaction leaflet, and with certain medications that can be a very long list.

A downside of many medications is that they can deplete one or more essential nutrients needed to make your body function at its peak. Drugs can interfere with the normal process of nutrient absorption within the body and this can affect the activity of these nutrients in body tissues. The liver can become quite overworked in its job of metabolising and utilising the drug.  To add to that, if you are eating a processed, sugar laden diet, daily take away’s or packaged food, and washing it down with coffee, alcohol or soft drink your body will struggle to cope with the already low nutrient status. Sugar in itself contributes to nutrient depletions, particularly magnesium which we need for a healthy cardiovascular system, muscle and nerve function, utilising vitamin D, and improving sleep.

Nutrient depletion can cause extra health problems on top of the problem you needed the medication for in the first place and create many unwanted symptoms you are now putting up with. Unfortunately it is common to see side effects of one drug caused by nutrient depletion being treated with another drug, potentially compounding the problem.

*Common nutrient depleting drugs:

oral contraceptives - B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, selenium and zinc

beta-blockers - coenzyme Q10, melatonin

NSAIDs (e.g. aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) - iron, folate, zinc, vitamin C

antacids and proton pump inhibitors for indigestion  - vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc (osteoporosis is a risk in the long term)

statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) - coenzyme Q10

antidepressants - vitamin B2 and coenzyme Q10

antibiotics - many can deplete B vitamins and affect gut health and our ability to digest oxalates in plant foods

If you require guidance to improve your health and prevent nutrient depletion from your medications or for any reason, then please reach out by email info@chaostokarma.com or phone 0414724839. I utilise the lab test called HTMA or hair tissue mineral analysis to check your mineral status and receive a report on how that affects your health and wellbeing and what to do to correct it. We can also uncover your food triggers with Hair Compatibility testing for over 500 foods and household items that can be interrupting cellular function thus affecting organ function. Call to find out more or book in on my website www.chaostokarma.com

*Extract from ‘The Mystery Gut by Prof Kerryn Phelps, Dr Claudia Lee & Jaime Rose Chambers’