Supplements and Prednisolone.
Prednisolone, sold under the brand names Deltacortril, Pevanti, Dilacort, is a systemic corticosteroid.
Prednisolone is a systemic corticosteroid. It is prescribed for inflammatory conditions where the local airway delivery of inhaled steroids does not reach the target. Courses over two to three weeks carry the documented side effect profile. Weight gain. Elevated glucose. Mood effects. Bone density loss. Adrenal suppression on withdrawal. Increased infection risk. The supplement surface includes additive osteoporosis risk from anything that opposes bone health (high-sodium intake, alcohol, vitamin D deficiency), additive glucose elevation in patients on diabetes management, and CYP3A4 interactions for the more 3A4-sensitive agents (methylprednisolone, dexamethasone). Vitamin D and calcium adequacy underpin bone protection during long courses, and most rheumatology and respiratory teams co-prescribe both. NSAID combination warrants care given the additive GI ulceration risk on top of gastric mucosal thinning from corticosteroids.
Below are the 2 documented pairs we have explicitly assessed against Prednisolone in the Distil database: 2 green. The pairs cluster around 1 mechanism: Beneficial combination. Every call is cited to either a clinical reference (PMID) or the British National Formulary. Anything not on this list is either still to be assessed or beyond our database scope. The checker beneath surfaces assessments by supplement, and the missing-item form at the bottom of the page routes any uncatalogued supplement into our next curation pass.
Documented interactions
Last reviewed 10 June 2026. Each interaction below lists the evidence its assessment drew on: some rest on studies of the exact pair, others on mechanism evidence, where a citation may support one part of the reasoning rather than the exact combination. The evidence line on each entry says which.
Beneficial combination
Green Does Calcium interact with ?
Calcium and prednisolone are usually a helpful pairing rather than a problem. Long-term steroids like prednisolone reduce how well you absorb calcium and increase the calcium your body loses in urine, which weakens bone over time. For that reason calcium, taken together with vitamin D, is routinely recommended alongside steroids to protect your bones. Guidelines advise normalising calcium intake for anyone taking steroids for three months or more. If you are on long-term or higher-dose steroids your prescriber may also check your bone health and consider additional bone medication, since calcium and vitamin D alone may not be enough at higher fracture risk.
Evidence: Supported by human study data.
Green Does Vitamin D3 interact with ?
Vitamin D and prednisolone are usually a helpful pairing rather than a problem. Long-term steroids like prednisolone weaken bone and reduce how well you absorb calcium, so vitamin D (often with calcium) is routinely recommended alongside them to protect your bones. Guidelines advise keeping vitamin D in a healthy range for anyone taking steroids for three months or more. At very high steroid doses the bone-protecting effect of vitamin D may be partly blunted, so if you are on long-term or high-dose steroids your prescriber may also check your bone health and consider additional bone medication.
Evidence: Supported by human study data.
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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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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