Insights Newsletter: Clarify the Role of Turmeric for COVID-19 and Other Uses, Kicking Bad Habits: Do Any Natural Medicines Help?, and New CE for January, and More!

Clarify the Role of Turmeric for COVID-19 and Other Uses

• Pain Point: Turmeric was one of the top-selling herbal supplements in 2020. Now patients are also hearing that turmeric speeds COVID-19 recovery.
• Solution: Our Pharmacist’s Letter, Prescriber’s Letter, Pharmacy Technician’s Letter, Pharmacist’s Letter Canada, and Pharmacy Technician’s Letter Canada articles discuss what evidence does…and doesn’t…exist for turmeric for various uses. Advice is given about whether patients should rely on turmeric, whether to use turmeric supplements instead of the spice, and how to select a supplement if one will be used. Our new FAQ, Tips About Turmeric, provides details about adverse effects and possible drug interactions with turmeric. Our Natural Medicines is also highlighted as a key resource for a comprehensive review of turmeric and guidance about other supplements.

Kicking Bad Habits: Do Any Natural Medicines Help? 

• Pain Point: As we enter a new year, many people may be interested in kicking bad habits, such as use of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and more. The internet abounds with recommendations on using natural remedies to aid with these types of resolutions, but some suggestions are safer and more beneficial than others.
• Solution:We recently published a new Natural Medicines article about kicking bad habits in the new year. Our article summarizes what natural medicines could be helpful. A wide range of natural products have been evaluated for these uses, but the quality of the evidence, as well as the findings, vary. For instance, there is a lot of interest in using cannabidiol (CBD) to help reduce cannabis use, but so far, the evidence is inconclusive. And some CBD products have been found to contain THC, the psychoactive chemical in cannabis that can cause dependence. In this article, we review options that are likely to be safe, as well as those that should be avoided.

This month’s Insights also features our advanced pharmacy technician training programs that helps technicians advance their careers by developing essential competencies to enhance pharmacy practice: PTU Elite

And don’t miss out on our most popular charts, as well as our Natural Medicines Resources Hub, and latest COVID-19 resources that are available. You’ll also get details on freshly released CE/CME courses, and can’t-miss webinars.

Need timely, concise updates for your pharmacy teams on topics like drug options for hypertensive emergency, COVID-19 treatments, and more? Learn more about Enterprise solutions from TRC >>