New Interactive Tools

This month, Natural Standard launched two new interactive tools to help clinicians and consumers make safer therapeutic decisions.

The nutrient depletion database allows users to quickly identify nutrients that are depleted by certain drugs, herbs or supplements. This decision-support tool is divided into two categories: drugs and herbs/supplements.

Natural Standard evidence-based systematic reviews have always featured nutrient depletion interactions, but now this information is conveniently compiled in one location.

Additionally, Natural Standard has developed a patient education portal that provides easy-to-understand information about herbs and supplements. The information is presented as "flashcards," which are concise versions of Natural Standard's professional monographs. The flashcards contain all of the pertinent information, including evidence of effectiveness, safety, side effects, interactions and dosing.

To try out these new innovative tools, please visit Natural Standard's Interactive Tools database.

Comments

[Ralph M.]

I am so pleased that Natural Standard has launched these interactive tools to help clinicians and consumers. As a physician, many of my patients do develop minor nutrient deficiencies due to the medications they are on (ie. Furosemide). There are many drugs that are not as well known to cause these depletions, and it is not always easy to locate the information. I am very happy that now I have a definite source I can turn to, and that source is Natural Standard!

[marlene]

What a great idea to make the nutrient depletion database information so easy to access for consumers. As my parents and in-laws are getting older, they are taking more and more medications that may interfere with their dietary needs. This will be a handy tool to help them, their caretakers and their children stay on top of this. Thank you for the additional value to Natural Standard!

[Tom D.]

I have just tried out both the new tools that Natural Standard offers. I have to say that they both are very easy to use. The nutrient depletion tool is a very valuable tool. Although these tools are designed for physicians and consumers, I still think they can be used by other professionals. I work in a pharmacy and sometimes patients would be concerned about their electrolytes when taking certain drugs. With this tool, I can very quickly let them know which one of their supplements or drugs may cause a problem.

Also the patient education tool is very straight forward. I like that fact that is very simple and concise. It has everything a patient would be looking for without being too lengthy. I feel Natural Standard did a great job with these tools as well as other tools they have.

[DK]

It is amazing to learn that we spent massive amounts of money on complementary and alternative medications! Nevertheless, we spent so little time studying and evaluating efficacy and safety of CAM.

I do think government authorities should be more involved in regulating CAM. These therapies may lead to new treatments that could be more successful than conventional treatments. On the flip side, these therapies, without thorough assessment, could result in great harm to patients. The patients do not ask their healthcare providers enough questions regarding these therapies. Instead, they just undergo CAM therapies after learning from friends and neighbors.

The false idea of “natural” means “safe” is a concerning issue. Healthcare providers should spend more time educating their patients on safety.

[WR]

I’ve tried the Herb/Supplement Nutrient Depletions Interactive Tools, and I am amazed. This tool is actually very user friendly; it helps us get a quick glance of what nutrients will be affected by a particular herb. This would be of great help. I understand that it’s just established; I’m looking forward to see an advanced version of this tool. With this great tool, pharmacists and physicians can quickly educate their patients about herbs and other supplements.

[Gayle Branson, PharmD]

As a pharmacist, whatever setting you are practicing in, whether it be Long-term Care, Hospital, Ambulatory Clinic, or Community, the Flashcard System that Natural Standard just launched is excellent. It provides the pharmacist with a quick concise reference tool that gets straight to the bottom line.

As a pharmacist, patient safety is always my utmost concern. Consumers are turning more to herbal supplements and exploring options other than traditional medicine, so pharmacists are being asked more and more about drug interactions concerning therapy with an herbal supplement. It is great to know that there is a reliable resource that pharmacists can quickly access to get the answer to the patient or clinician they are dealing with in a quick and timely manner. Thank you Natural Standard for leading the way!

[asa]

These are two very helpful tools that many people can use. It’s a good source for patients, pharmacists and physicians because they can quickly look up valid (evidence-based information) on possible interactions among drugs, herbs and various supplements, as well as general information on herbs and supplements. I also like how some of the herbs have the “also known as” section since one herb can go by so many different names.

[Bianca]

I went to go check out the nutrient depletion tool after I read this post. It turned out to be very helpful.

While I was looking for the nutrient depletion tool, I stumbled upon the nutrition tool, which I also tried. This tool is great! You can search any food you want, even fruits and vegetables (which don’t usually have nutrition labels), and a nutrition fact chart pops up. One could use this tool to plug in everything he/she ate in a day to determine if he/she is getting an adequate amount of a vitamin or mineral, very useful.

[rgorensh]

Both tools are excellent. I don’t know where else one may find information on which important elements are depleted by specific drugs or herbs. This is very important information, so I am glad it is now available in a convenient form.

The other tool, having Natural Standard monographs simplified for a layperson (such as myself), is extremely helpful. I look forward to using both the nutrient depletion database and the patient education portal.

[Rx]

I would have to agree; these new tools are definitely handy and convenient. I especially appreciate the nutrient depletion database. So many people utilize herbs and supplements, so it is very important to monitor for interactions, especially since many providers are not as familiar with supplements. This tool could be useful to patients as they use more supplements. Many tools do not provide a user-friendly format but this is easy to use and informative.

[Santos]

As was mentioned in most of the above comments, this new Nutrient Depletion tool is extremely easy to use and navigate through. When clicking on an individual nutrient, the explanation of how it gets depleted is written at an average lay person reading level.

Another aspect that may be beneficial in expanding this new tool could involve listing symptoms of nutrient deficiencies (i.e. potassium depletion can manifest as muscle cramps). The database could expand even further and list some common foods that these nutrients are found in (i.e. bananas are a good source of potassium).

[ER]

The nutrient depletion database is a great resource. Every day I see patients who are starting new medications, and they ask if there is anything else they should be taking. Using the nutrition depletion database provides me with another resource to check what my patients should be taking and what levels their physicians may need to be monitoring.

[missy]

The Nutrient Depletion tool seems like it can apply to people at varying educational levels. The listing of nutrient depletions that appears for a particular drug or herb/supplement can be used by the lay person to facilitate communication about a person’s healthcare with his or her physician or pharmacist. The new tool can also act as a great starting point for healthcare professionals to become aware of potential adverse effects of the medications they prescribe. The tool can be further used to explain the mechanism behind these interactions (if it is known) by citing primary sources. The healthcare professional then has an idea of which interactions are more significant and can direct his or her efforts more at finding additional primary literature more appropriately. I wonder if Natural Standard has way of tracking how much this application is used -- and more so by whom --- the lay person or the healthcare professional?

[Marni]

Natural Standard’s new patient education tool is very useful. I don’t always have time to read through the technical details when I am double-checking a drug information question. The patient education tool is also handy to help me narrow down how much information my patients probably need to be given. I can’t wait to see what new tools the Natural Standard comes up with next!

[Pharm]

Monitoring for interactions and patient education are incredibly important for any provider or healthcare professional. The nutrient depletion database is an easy way to monitor for potential interactions that could lead to other complications. It is great to have both drug and herbal/supplement databases available at the click of a button -- quick and easy, especially when the patient is right there!

The patient education tool provides information in a pt-friendly manner. Having patient handouts that are accurate but concise is so important since patients can easily become overwhelmed by all the information passed on to them. Thanks NS!

[Lo]

As mentioned in the article below, Americans spend almost $34 billion dollars on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). That is a lot of money spent on therapies (and probably a lot of people as well), and it’s great that Natural Standard provides evidence-based information for consumers and healthcare providers.

[Lo]

I’ve worked at Walgreens, and I’ve used some of the other tools from Natural Standard. It is very user friendly and provides great information. I think these “flashcards” will be very useful since it has all of the pertinent information in a very short, direct manner.