Medication · insulin

Supplements and Insulin degludec.

Not yet catalogued in the Distil interactions database. We surface that distinction explicitly.

Insulin degludec, sold under the brand names Tresiba, Ryzodeg, is insulin replacement therapy for type 1 or insulin-requiring type 2 diabetes.

Insulin degludec is insulin replacement therapy. It is used universally in type 1 diabetes and in type 2 diabetes that has progressed to needing insulin. The supplement surface is small, because insulin is a peptide with no CYP metabolism and no plasma protein displacement story. The clinically important issue is anything that affects glucose handling. Berberine. Cinnamon (at habitual food amounts not clinically significant; at extract doses a small additive effect). Chromium at high doses. Alpha lipoic acid. And the GLP-1 mimetic supplement category. All carry small additive glycaemic effects that, stacked on top of an insulin regimen, can drive hypoglycaemia. Patients on insulin who add such a supplement benefit from more frequent glucose monitoring in the first two to four weeks of the change. Vitamin B12 status matters too, because most Type 2 patients carry metformin alongside their insulin.

We have not yet completed an explicit assessment of supplement interactions with Insulin degludec in the Distil database. That is different from saying nothing exists. We surface this distinction deliberately: the Distil checker tells you when we have explicitly assessed a pair and when we have not, because both are useful information. If you take Insulin degludec alongside a supplement, the checker below will surface anything already in our database, and the missing-item form at the bottom of the page routes uncatalogued pairs into our next curation pass.

What this list does not say. Pairs not flagged here are not implicitly safe. They are either not yet in our database, or fall outside our inclusion scope (food-supplement interactions only; for drug-drug interactions, the BNF is authoritative). Use the checker below to surface any supplement, and submit a missing item if you take something we have not catalogued.

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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.

Your supplements

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Your medications

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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

Something missing?

If a supplement or medication you take isn't in our autocomplete, tell us. We go through what people flag every week and add what's missing.

Thanks, that's logged. We go through flagged items every week.

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.