「健康食品」の安全性・有効性情報の収載データ分析から示される健康食品と医薬品の併用における注目すべき有害事象

Ayako Kojima, Yoko Sato, Tsuyoshi Chiba, Keizo Umegaki

Health foods are commonly consumed at their own discretion by patients with various diseases who are also being treated with conventional drugs. Both health foods and drugs are diverse, and enormous numbers of possible combinations exist, so that it is very difficult to identify adverse events that may occur due to their interactions. Here, we analyzed the characteristics of adverse events related to the concomitant use of health foods and drugs using data from the "Information system on safety and effectiveness for health foods (HFNet)" website (https://hfnet.nibiohn.go.jp/) compiled by the Food Function and Labeling Department of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition of Japan. We identified 64 reports and 71 patients, and characterized them according to symptom severity and drug classification. The analysis revealed that symptoms of liver dysfunction were mainly reported in patients receiving high-risk drugs, such as antiepileptic, antineoplastic, antiarrhythmic, and antithrombotic drugs, concomitantly with health foods or drugs. However, journal articles describing health food and drug interactions generally did not provide sufficient information about the ingredients of the health foods.