Is It Safe To Take Herbalife When On Tapizole?

Posted on Mon, 17 Feb 2014

Question: Hi, I have high thyroid levels and am taking herbalife to lose a bit of weight now that I'm in college and I am not working out as much or eating as healthy.. Is it okay to take Herbalife if I'm on Tapizole? Sorry, it's not Tapizole.. the medicine is called methimazole.

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: Probably yes Detailed Answer: There is no published study in world thyroid literature to my knowledge that has looked at methimazole and herbalife taken together. So I am not aware of any reported adverse interaction between these two. Further nutritional supplements like herbalife fall under the category of nutraceuticals which are not required to be regulated by the FDA as opposed to prescription medications that are rigorously approved by FDA standards for safety and effectiveness.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (14 hours later)

But just in general, is it fine to take herbalife with any thyroid problem? I heard herbalife is a natural product, so supposedly it was not harmful, but I just want to clarify.

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (21 hours later)

Brief Answer: Probably yes Detailed Answer: Again, nutraceuticals like herbal life do not publish data in medical journals where studies are rigorously vetted before they are shared with the scientific community. So I am not aware of any hard evidence where herbal life was compared with thyroid medication. So if it does not contain iron and calcium which are very well known to impede the absorption of thyroid medication, it should be ok. If it does contain such substances that may potentially reduce the absorption of thyroid medication then herbal life should be taken at a different time of the day than thyroid medication.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar