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Class landing · Corticosteroids

Supplements and corticosteroids.

What matters, and what mostly does not, alongside prednisolone and other steroids.

Corticosteroids like prednisolone have a smaller supplement-interaction surface than most people expect. There are no supplements in our database that are a hard exclusion with a steroid. The points worth knowing are about the body’s response to longer-term steroid use, not a direct clash.

First, long courses of steroids reduce bone density, so vitamin D and calcium are often recommended alongside them to protect the skeleton: a helpful pairing, not a risk. Second, steroids are cleared partly by the CYP3A4 enzyme, so supplements that strongly affect CYP3A4 at high doses (curcumin, quercetin) could in theory shift steroid levels, though the effect is usually small. On a long or high-dose course, the useful conversation is bone and blood-sugar monitoring with your GP, not avoiding supplements.

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For adults over 18. This tool gives evidence-graded information, not medical advice. Always discuss changes with your GP, especially if you take any medication, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a serious health condition.
Add every supplement you take. Type a name and click each match to add it, as many as you like.
Add all your medications, brand or generic. Type and click each match to add it.
Anything we should know? (optional)
Pick any that apply. We adjust the findings where context changes the answer.
Add all the supplements and medications you take, then check them together in one go.
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How we decide

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 methodology
Your whole stack

Want this checked across everything you take?

This page checks the pairs you enter. The personalised Distil report goes further:

  • the same graded, cited interaction check across your whole stack, not just the pairs you thought to type in
  • where your current routine may be leaving you short of your goals
  • the evidence-backed compounds worth adding, and the ones worth dropping

It's a paid report: £79, or £49 for the first 25 customers. The interactions check is one section of it, and you can read a real one in full before you buy.

See a real sample report
Distil's interactions database is reviewed and updated every quarter. We grade evidence transparently and publish our methodology, including every database change, at /about/methodology. This tool is information, not a substitute for clinical judgement. If you take medication and supplements together, your GP or pharmacist can review your full regimen against your medical history. If you want a full personalised stack reasoned against this same database, the Distil report is the next step up.