Aust Fam Physician. 2000 Dec; 29(12): 1155-6.

Herb-drug interaction guide.

Braun L.

Herbal medicines now fall into the category of complementary medicines. With their increasing popularity, a new set of circumstances has arisen--the herb-drug interaction. In an effort to streamline the interaction information available, the author has designed two charts. The first lists the 21 most popular herbal medicines sold in Australia, sourced from the largest natural supplement manufacturer in Australia, Bullivant Natural Health Products. The second lists the 12 commonly prescribed prescription drug classes. This list was sourced from F H Faulding & Co Ltd, together with Australian Prescriber. Specific interaction information was collated from a variety of sources--medical and complementary medicine journals, pharmacy practice journals and respected phytotherapy texts. Over the coming months excerpts from these charts will be produced in a tearout single page format. The chart will be produced in its entirety throughout 2001.