Abstract
Purpose: To collate evidence on nutrient deficiencies caused by drugs.
Design: Search of Medline and other databases, and published literature.
Materials and methods: Medline, Scirus and Google Scholar databases, journal articles and books.
Results: There is evidence that many drugs, medicinal or recreational, produce deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and/or amino acids. Some drugs cause multiple deficiencies. They may reduce conversion of vitamins to their active forms, or inhibit the production of important metabolites. By killing beneficial bacteria in the gut, they may cause vitamin deficiency. They may reduce absorption, or cause excretion of nutrients.
Conclusions: Many drugs have been identified, which appear to cause deficiencies in essential nutrients and their metabolites. Nutrients could be prescribed with drugs, to limit the damage done, provided that this does not undermine the action of the drugs. Further research is needed to confirm the results of those studies that have been carried out, and to find out about nutrient depletion from new drugs.