What medications can interact with ginger?

When used in cooking, ginger doesn't tend to interact with medications; but in supplement form, it's more potent. Integrative medicine specialist Tieraona Low Dog, MD, explains which medications may be impacted by ginger supplements.

Transcript

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Many of the supplements today are extremely concentrated because they're being designed for, you know, inflammation and arthritis

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and things like that. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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You know, ginger is one of my favorite spices. And people use it both in cooking, and they also then take it in supplement form.

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So when you're using ginger in your cooking and you're eating a gingerbread cookie, et cetera, you really don't have to worry about interactions

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with medications. You really don't. But many of the supplements today are extremely concentrated because they're

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being designed for inflammation and arthritis and things like that. When you get up into these higher, more concentrated

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forms of ginger, they can affect your ability for your blood to clot. So if you are taking medications that

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are designed to impact blood clotting or prevent blood clotting, then you really want to make sure that you're cautious with ginger

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supplementation, all right? So, not a worry in food. When you get up into these higher doses, 4,000 milligrams,

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or when you get into these really concentrated forms, be careful if you're taking anything for blood clotting.

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And like all supplement-drug interaction kind of questions, if you are not sure if the medication you're taking

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may be interacting with the supplement, like ginger, talk to your health care provider or talk to your pharmacist. They can also be a great reference.