Drug Induced Nutritional Deficiencies and Gluten Sensitivity

Many Medications Rob Your Already Malnourished Body of Nutrients

Drug induced nutrient loss is a common yet often ignored side effect of prescription medications. Often times, gluten sensitive patients who are chronically ill, are prescribed medicines for their symptoms. Unfortunately, their physicians never sit down with them to explain this problem. Click the link below to listen to a special radio program on this very overlooked yet vital topic (skip ahead to 5:51 to bypass the commercials): Drug Induced Nutritional Deficiencies

Common Drugs and the Nutrients They Deplete:

Catch 22

Medications are prescribed to treat symptoms of disease or to reduce risk for the development of disease. If the medicine causes a vitamin deficiency, and the vitamin deficiency contributes to the same disease that the drug is being used to prevent, then we haven’t really solved the patient’s problem. For example, Lipitor, which is commonly prescribed to help lower cholesterol, can deplete the body of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). A CoQ10 deficiency can cause high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. Thus treating high cholesterol with this type of medication may increase the risk of heart disease. Commonly prescribed pain medications interfere with folic acid, iron, and vitamin C. These nutrients are necessary for your body to repair joint cartilage and reduce the chemical inflammation that leads to pain. So again, the medication (albeit well intentioned) contributes to a prolongation of the problem instead addressing the long term solution. This is important why? Because we spend more per person on medication than any other country in the world, yet we have the worst outcomes for chronic disease. The way chronic disease is treated is with the use of medications. If you are on any type of medication, make sure to talk with your doctor about the potential for nutrient loss as a side effect and address it appropriately. Remember that those with gluten sensitivity are already at great risk for vitamin and mineral loss. Always looking out for you, Dr. O – AKA the Gluten Free Warrior