St. John’s Wort Induces Drug-Clearing Enzyme
Normally, this is a good thing!! Anything that helps the liver get rid of toxins should be considered beneficial. The concerns here is that is will affect the body’s breakdown of many pharmaceutical drugs. What this article states is that St John’s Wort helps the body get rid of toxins…which is exactly how the body treats many drugs.
Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;67:451-457 St. John’s Wort appears to be an inducer of CYP3A4, a metabolic enzyme involved in most clinically significant drug-drug interactions. Since CYP3A4 isozyme is responsible for the metabolism of more than 73 medications, when patients take St. John’s Wort there may be reductions in therapeutic efficacy in many types of medications, “including oral contraceptives, certain antiretrovirals, antiepileptics, calcium channel blockers, cyclosporine, fentanyl, and select chemotherapeutics, antibiotics, and antifungals.”
