Taking Honey Power With Blood Pressure, Diabetes or Heart Medicine: Questions for Your Pharmacist

Can I take honey power if I have high blood pressure?

Nothing supplied answers this directly, and this site will not guess. No blood pressure effect is recorded in the supplied material for the capsule.

Here is what we do know. In the category HoneyPower sits in, FDA has warned that products can contain undeclared drug ingredients that interact with nitrates and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Nothing suggests HoneyPower is such a product, and we say that carefully. The practical lesson is for anyone with blood pressure or heart medicine: tell your doctor or pharmacist the exact product name before you start.

Because ginseng is also recorded to possibly increase the QTc interval, a person on a heart-rhythm medicine has a second reason to ask.

Can diabetics take honey power?

Ask first, for two separate reasons. Honey is largely sugar: the monograph puts glucose and fructose together at roughly 65% to 80%. The honey content of a capsule is not published, so the sugar load could be large or tiny.

More important, Panax ginseng may enhance the effect of medicines that lower blood sugar, and the source advises monitoring. If you use insulin or a tablet for diabetes, a low blood sugar is a real risk of any change, and it is a conversation for your doctor.

What about blood thinners and seizure medicines?

The ginseng monograph warns that it may strengthen the harmful effects of anticoagulants, with bleeding possible. If you take a blood thinner, show your prescriber that line.

For seizure medicine, the relevant source is on piperine. At 20 mg a day for ten days it raised carbamazepine exposure by 48% in volunteers. The study dose is a yardstick. HoneyPower’s amount of black pepper extract is not published, so no one can say whether a serving is near it.

Can honey power go with antidepressants, alcohol, creatine or a multivitamin?

Not addressed. The supplied material says nothing about alcohol, creatine, a multivitamin or other supplements. It also gives no rule for taking it at night.

A note on antidepressants. The maca monograph includes a small study in people with sexual problems linked to an SSRI, and that study found 3,000 mg a day helped while 1,500 mg did not. That is a study of maca alone at a stated dose. It does not say HoneyPower is suitable with an antidepressant, and it should not be read that way.

The one clear message in the pack for people stacking products: one reviewer line says they did not stack a second men’s product. Whether or not that is a real person, it is a sound idea. Each extra product adds unknowns.

What should you bring to a pharmacist, and what should you ask?

A pharmacist can look at the bottle and your medicine list in one short visit. Put the bottle in a bag and take your medicine list.

1. Show the bottle front: HoneyPower, 60 capsules, dietary supplement.
2. Point at the black pepper extract on the sales page list. Say that no amount is declared.
3. Read out the six names: pure honey, Panax ginseng, maca root, tribulus, horny goat weed, black pepper extract.
4. Ask whether any of your medicines pass through CYP3A4, CYP2C9 or P-glycoprotein.
5. Ask whether ginseng matters for any blood thinner, diabetes medicine or heart-rhythm medicine you take.
6. Ask what to watch for, and when to stop and call your doctor.

If the Supplement Facts panel on your bottle lists weights, take a photo of it. The pharmacist can then use real numbers.

Who should not take it at all without asking?

• Anyone taking anything on prescription.
• People on an anticoagulant or a diabetes medicine.
• People with a heart-rhythm condition.
• People under 18. The sold audience is adults 18 and over.
• People who are pregnant or nursing. Maca’s monograph advises against use for lack of data.
• People with thyroid conditions, since maca’s monograph advises avoiding it.

Which sources does this post use?

Only sources already named on this site are used. Figures from them describe studied ingredients, not the contents of this capsule.

• Ginseng, Panax — Drugs.com natural products database
• Piperine Drug Interactions — Pharmacy Times
• Maca — Drugs.com natural products database
• Honey — Drugs.com natural products database
• Public Notification: Vital Sex contains hidden drug ingredient — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Sexual Enhancement Products and Hidden Ingredients — Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS)

Frequently asked questions

• Can I take HoneyPower with blood pressure medicine?

  The supplied material does not address it. Show the bottle to a pharmacist or doctor first and say that no ingredient amounts are published.

• Can diabetics take HoneyPower?

  Ask first. Ginseng may enhance glucose-lowering medicines, and the amount of honey in a capsule is not published.

• Is it safe with blood thinners?

  Ginseng is listed as able to worsen the effects of anticoagulants, with bleeding possible. Talk to your prescriber first.

• Can I take HoneyPower with alcohol, antidepressants or creatine?

  Nothing supplied addresses these. Ask a pharmacist, and do not combine products without advice.

• Which ingredient affects other medicines most?

  Black pepper extract. Its active part, piperine, slows the clearance of several medicines, and the amount in the capsule is not published.

• Is HoneyPower a testosterone booster I should avoid with medicine?

  It is not a testosterone medicine, per the pack. The same care applies to any supplement with these ingredients if you take regular medicine.

Our view

This is the post we would most like you to act on and the one we can say least about. The sources are clear that several ingredients can interact with medicines. The label detail that would let anyone judge the risk is missing.

So the advice is simple and does not change: a pharmacist, the bottle, the medicine list, before the first capsule. If you take none of the medicines above and are an adult in good health, the same visit is still cheap peace of mind.