Patient hotline shows herbal meds a worry
18th July 2013
Glucosamine, fish oil and St John's wort are the three most asked-about complementary medicines, an analysis of a national medicines hotline has shown.
A study of 10,288 phone calls made to the NPS Medicines Line about complementary medicines found 34% were about drug interactions, 31% about safety concerns and 21% about efficacy.
Dr Sanne Kreijkamp-Kaspers, a GP and research fellow at the University of Queensland, said about half of the calls were prompted by a lack of adequate information about complementary medicines.
She said interactions were