Supplements and PPIs.
Proton pump inhibitors raise gastric pH. The downstream effect on supplements is twofold. Some supplements are not interacted with directly but their absorption pattern changes (non-haem iron, vitamin B12, magnesium). Long-term PPI use itself depletes these nutrients, which is why chronic PPI users sometimes need to supplement them at higher doses than the general population.
The strongest recommendations: monitor B12 after a year of daily PPI use, particularly in over-50s; consider magnesium repletion if blood levels run low; use iron bisglycinate rather than ferrous sulphate if iron is needed (less pH-dependent). None of these are emergency interactions; all are worth knowing if you take a daily PPI.
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 methodologyWant 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 reportSomething 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.