Supplements and antiepileptic drugs.
Older antiepileptic drugs (phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproate) are strong inducers or inhibitors of CYP enzymes. Newer ones (lamotrigine, levetiracetam) less so. Supplements that share those CYP substrates can shift blood levels in either direction, with seizure-control implications.
The headline exclusion is St John’s Wort: CYP3A4 induction reduces blood levels of most antiepileptics and can break seizure control. Folate is the other side of the same coin: long-term valproate depletes folate, which is associated with elevated homocysteine and (in pregnancy) neural tube defect risk; supplementation is standard. Vitamin D and calcium are flagged on long-term antiepileptic use for bone health (enzyme-inducing AEDs increase vitamin D clearance).
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How we grade severity, choose what's in scope, and what we exclude.
Every call on this page is reasoned. We publish the full rubric for severity tiers, the medication inclusion logic, the evidence grades we accept, and what we deliberately leave out. About three thousand words. Worth reading once if you use this tool more than occasionally.
Read the full methodologyA full supplement review, built around you, not a generic stack.
The free checker answers one interaction question at a time. A Distil report reviews the bigger picture: your goals, diet, medications, current supplements and any blood results you provide, then shows what appears worth keeping, changing, adding or leaving out.
- what your diet already covers, so you are not adding a capsule for something food is already handling
- which evidence-graded compounds are worth considering for your goals, and which were considered but left out
- what to keep, change or stop from what you already take, plus the order to introduce anything new
- how your medications and complete supplement stack fit together, with daily timing and a clear point for reassessment
The interaction check is one section of the full report. You also get the reasoning behind each recommendation and the evidence references used.
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