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A large percentage of the population in America take more than one prescription medication and over 30% also take dietary supplements regularly. Many people are not aware that drug interactions may occur between their medicine and nutraceuticals, and these could have a negative impact on their health.

Despite frequent reports in the newspaper on the latest health scares, we have benefited hugely from advances in both pharmaceutical and nutritional sciences. There is now a huge selection of medication and health supplements for our therapy and massive research is being undertaken into new cures and treatments.

Almost eight percent of Americans aged 18 to 44 take three or more prescription drugs daily. In seniors of retirement age this figure rises to nearly fifty percent. Other statistics show that over a third of adults in the USA use health supplements on a daily basis and almost a fifth have used a natural product over the past year.

It does not take a genius to work out that a large amount of people are taking drugs and dietary supplements at the same time and they may not be aware of drug interactions. This statistic is made more worrying by the fact that, according to one study, 70% of patients do not tell their physician that they are self medicating with an alternative treatment for their health concern. Conditions such as like allergies, obesity, arthritis, colds and flu and high blood pressure