AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, June 20, 2005
Staff Medical Writers

"The use of natural health products (NHPs) within the HIV community is high. Several NHPs have demonstrated interactions with HIV medications that could contribute to drug failure.

"We aimed to conduct a systematic review of clinical trials examining NHP-HIV drug interactions and their methodological characteristics," scientists writing in the International Journal of STD & AIDS report.

"We searched electronic databases and unpublished resources independently, in duplicate. Nine studies were identified, eight clinical pharmacokinetics trials and one population-pharmacokinetics trial.

"Investigators studied four different herbal medicines (St John's wort, garlic, goldenseal and milk thistle) and one vitamin (vitamin Q). Significant interactions were observed with St John's wort, garlic and vitamin C," said E. Mills and coworkers at McMaster University in Hamilton.

"However," continued the authors, "methodological challenges exist to making the results directly generalizable to patients."

"This review finds that important drug level changes exist when NHPs are combined with HIV medications. Considering patient values and the implications of these studies, further research is urgently required to determine the extent of interactions with other commonly used NHPs," suggested researchers.

Mills and colleagues published their study in International Journal of STD & AIDS (Natural health product-HIV drug interactions: a systematic review. Int J STD AIDS. 2005 Mar;16(3):181-6.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting E. Mills, McMaster University, Faculty Hlth Science, Department Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, HSC-2C12, 1200 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5, Canada.

The publisher of the International Journal of STD & AIDS can be contacted at: Royal Society Medicine Press Ltd., 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE, England.

Keywords: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, HAART, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Drug Interactions, Natural Health Products.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Mills E, Montori V, Perri D, et al., Natural health product-HIV drug interactions: a systematic review, Int J STD AIDS. 2005 Mar;16(3):181-6.

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