Cheryl wrote:
>
> I take Turmeric supplements.

Curcumin (the yellow pigment in tumeric) both inhibits
P-glycoprotein (the cell membrane protein that transports
toxins out of the cell) and activates the steroid and
xenobiotic receptor (SXR). In the short term, it inhibits
the clearance of toxins and drugs. In the long term,
it activates at the transcriptional level greater
expression of the xenobiotic transporter P-gp and the
main metabolizing enzyme in the human body CYP3A4.
Oooh! You don't want that!

That's why I stopped eating curry completely a few years
ago. If I was ever diagnosed with cancer, I might
already be in a state of multidrug resistance (up-regulation
of expression of drug clearance enzymes), if I continued
the high level of curry consumption I had for many years.

That's also why I stopped eating Chinese chives. They
contain another modulator of drug clearance.

Those aren't the only foods that mess around with drug
clearance. Yellow onions and grapefruit also do that.
If you're on cancer chemotherapy or a recipient of
an organ transplant (and taking the anti-rejection drug
cyclosporine), you'll probably be given a list of foods
to avoid. Any complete list will contain all of the
foods I mentioned above, plus some herbal remedies such
as St. John's Wort. SJW has caused organ rejection in
some people, and failure of birth control drugs in other
people because of its powerful up-regulation of the drug
clearance enzymes.