1.9 Drugs and Nutrition

❓Can supplements and medicine work together—or against each other?

With the rise of chronic conditions and over-the-counter supplements, knowing how nutrients and medications interact is crucial. In this chapter, you’ll explore how nutrition therapy differs from drugs, common medication side effects, and how illness changes your nutritional needs.
You’ll also learn when and how to safely choose supplements, and how to create synergy—not conflict—between what you eat and what you treat.

🎯 Learning Outcomes

• Understand the fundamental differences between medication and nutrition therapy.

• Identify common nutrient-drug interactions and side effects.

• Learn how illness alters nutrient absorption, metabolism, and requirements.

• Know how to choose appropriate supplements safely during medication use.

• Develop an integrated mindset for managing health through both nutrition and medicine.

💊 Reflection｜Healing is no longer about medication alone—but restoration, regulation, and prevention

In this chapter, you’ve learned how drugs and nutrients interact, how medications can deplete or block absorption, and how nutritional therapy plays a preventive and restorative role.
As Edison foresaw, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
May you now begin to think like that future doctor—not just asking “what to prescribe,” but asking “what is truly needed to restore balance.” Nourishment, lifestyle, and understanding the root—these are your greatest tools.