FRUITS , VEGGIES, AND DRUG INTERACTIONS

Everyone knows that our beautiful fruits and veggies are good for our bodies, but there are times when they can be as dangerous as they are healthy. Those times are when the medications we may be on have harmful interactions with some of the foods we eat. Here are some examples.

People who take diuretics should avoid foods high in potassium such as avocados, green leafy veggies, and bananas.

If you are taking MAO Inhibitors you need to avoid avocados, bananas, raisins, and sauerkraut.

Those people taking Coumadin should not eat foods high in vitamin K such as cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, turnip greens, kale, and spinach.

This is in no way a complete list and I only focused on produce related interactions. To be really safe you need to consult your doctor or pharmacist to ask about food-drug interactions.

Most doctors today can tell you as soon as they prescribe the medication by use of a wonderful new program they can access from their pda, courtesy of Epocrates Products Online. So whether your doctor is prescribing Albuterol, or just a cough medicine, he can immediately tell you the properties of that particular medication.

One out of four doctors are using this handy program and are finding it valuable and time saving. In addition to telling them about the drug itself, they can also tell how much your insurance will cover on it, and any alternative or generic medication available. Don't be afraid to ask, the answer is at the touch of a button!