Complementary medicine ingredient lists cannot be trusted when doctors are trying to identify potential drug interactions, a prominent clinical pharmacist has warned.

Even products with the same active ingredient can vary between brands, says Adjunct Associate Professor Geraldine Moses, a consultant at Mater Health Services in Brisbane.

This underlines the importance of doctors recording the brand name rather than just the active ingredient in patient records, she writes in an Australian Prescriber editorial.

“Product names and formulations should be documented in the patient’s medication history, rather than just the active ingredients, so a comprehensive assessment can be made of the adverse effect and drug-interaction potential.