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theKCRAchannel.com
Updated: 4:06 p.m. ET Jan. 02, 2004
9:29 a.m. PST January
2, 2004 - Last year Americans spent more than $155 billion
on prescription drugs, but Healthwatch 3's Dr. Hopkins
reports that many people are not being told that their
pills may be depleting their bodies of crucial nutrients.
Research shows that
the pills people are turning to in record numbers could
be stripping their bodies of vital nutrients that protect
health.
For example, 100
million Americans suffer from high cholesterol, and
many turn to statin drugs. But statins also deplete
the body of nutrients and the co-enzyme Q-10 -- a compound
the body makes that's essential for heart energy.
Dr. Roberta Lee
now urges her patients to take supplements to replace
the nutrients they're losing.
"The most common
medications where I've found evidence in the medical
literature of nutrient depletion would be patients who
are taking cholesterol lowering drugs, birth control
pills, oral hypoglycemics -- in other words oral medications
for diabetes, antacids, and anti-inflammatory medications,"
Lee said.
Jane Campton said
she takes prescription medication every day to control
her arthritis, as well as a birth control pill. She
also takes calcium and a multivitamin.
"I just found
out recently that taking these drugs, taking these medications
on a regular basis every day, does deplete nutrients
and vitamins in my body and I was very surprised to
learn that -- and very disappointed -- that I hadn't
been informed about this," Campton said.
With so may drugs
now available to treat so many health problems, it's
critical for patients to ask their doctors about the
nutritional supplement they need to support their prescriptions,
Hopkins reported.
"You
need to work with your pharmacist or your doctor or
your nutritionist to find out -- if you take a drug
every day -- what kinds of things you might be missing,"
Lee said.
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