Supplements and Salbutamol.
Salbutamol, sold under the brand names Ventolin, Salamol, Airomir, Easyhaler Salbutamol, ProAir, Proventil, is a bronchodilator used in asthma or COPD.
Salbutamol is an inhaled or oral bronchodilator, used in asthma or COPD. Short acting beta-2 agonists (salbutamol, terbutaline) act in minutes. The longer-duration beta-2 agonists (salmeterol, formoterol) and the long acting muscarinic antagonists (tiotropium) act over hours. The supplement surface is small because most bronchodilators have minimal CYP metabolism. The signal that matters is additive sympathomimetic effect. Caffeine at high doses, ephedra (where available), bitter orange, and yerba mate can stack on top of beta-2 agonists and push heart rate and tremor higher. Hypokalaemia from heavy beta-2 agonist use plus a thiazide diuretic plus liquorice at high intake is the textbook pharmacology stack to watch for. Inhaled corticosteroids are a separate class. They have their own narrow interaction surface, mostly with strong CYP3A4 inhibitors.
Below are the 1 documented pair we have explicitly assessed against Salbutamol in the Distil database: 1 good to know. The pairs cluster around 1 mechanism: Potassium shifted into cells (drug-induced). 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 1 September 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.
Potassium shifted into cells (drug-induced)
Good to know Does Potassium interact with Salbutamol?
Salbutamol can lower the potassium reading in your blood for a short time, but it does this by moving potassium into your cells rather than making you lose any in your urine, so it does not run your body's potassium down the way a water tablet does. We assessed this pair and found no reason to avoid taking potassium alongside a salbutamol inhaler, and no reason to start one because of the inhaler either. The dip mainly becomes worth attention at high or repeated nebuliser doses, particularly if you also take a water tablet, and that is a conversation about your medicines with your GP rather than a supplement decision.
Evidence: Supported by human study data.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
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.
No affiliates. No commission. We earn nothing on what you buy.
How the checker decides
Every result has a source
Each pair we have assessed is cited to a published study (PMID) or the British National Formulary, so you can read the source yourself.
Four kinds of answer
Severe, caution, no known interaction, and not yet assessed. A pair we have not assessed is never shown as clear.
- Severe
- Caution
- No known interaction
- Not yet assessed
Nothing in our data is not a clearance
When nothing in our data records a problem with a pair, the result says no known interaction at typical doses, which is not a clearance: your pharmacist or GP can check the pair against your full medical history.
A 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.
£49 until 30 June 2027 · £79 from 1 July 2027.
Something missing?
If a supplement or medication you take isn't in our autocomplete, tell us. What people flag joins the queue of what we add next.