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The many Canadians who take natural health products as well as prescription drugs are six times as likely to suffer unwanted side effects as those just using drugs, suggests a new study that underscores the risks of an increasingly popular approach to health care.

The “adverse events” among people ingesting both types of medicines ranged from severe bruising to the cardiac arrest of an eight-year-old girl.

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Though a causal link could not be proven in the study, evidence suggests that some natural remedies can alter the biological impact of drugs, making them more or less potent.

It’s an issue that seems relevant to large numbers of Canadians. Almost half of all drug-store customers nationally employ natural and pharmaceutical medicines at the same time, concluded the University of Alberta researchers.

Their results, just published in the journal BMJ Open, indicate that doctors and patients must closely monitor interaction between the therapies, said Dr. Sunita Vohra, a pediatrician and patient-safety expert who headed the study.