This week the Canadian Press [1] reports that it may be dangerous to combine herbal supplements with heart medication.

Dr. Beth Abramson, a heart specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital [2] in Toronto , tells CP that St. John’s wort [3] can interfere with prescription medications like digoxin [4] and warfarin [5] — used to prevent blood clots — and that hawthorne [6] can also be detrimental to people who take heart drugs. According to Abramson, even vitamin E can affect warafin as its anticoagulant properties can thin the blood too much.

Readers of Toronto's Globe and Mail [7] had a lot to say about the CP's report. Dale Preston of Montreal writes: “It’s odd that when a person takes a proactive effort to improve their health the medical association takes offence . . . The pharmaceutical companies are looking out for their bottom line and if someone uses Hawthorn instead of a prescription they are losing their monopoly on the market. . .Also if hawthorn and vitamin E do thin the blood would it not be a possible option for a doctor to suggest these before aspirin or coumadin? By saying these supplements have these effects the medical association is admitting that in fact they do work.”

(see bottom of Globe and Mail story for all reader comments)