Health Committee on Oct. 5th, 2026

[Andrea Donsky]

Yes, I completely agree. That's why I really hope that you consider what I asked for here today, because for us as women and also for the women in our community, we do want to have access. Also, we want to be empowered over our own choices in deciding what we want to use. Something like magnesium is hugely important. I always say that there are non-negotiables for women in perimenopause and menopause. Magnesium fibre and omega-3s are all very crucial for helping us manage our symptoms.

As you said, in the research we put forth, which we published in 2024, those 103 symptoms were based on 5,300 responses. At the time, there were 2,400 responses. We're now up to 5,300 responses from women, and they're requesting the same things.

Yes, it's about understanding what our symptoms are and then educating doctors and health care providers to help us with what they're recommending. As I mentioned, supplements are part of the treatment options they're recommending that women should look to in terms of helping themselves. Women are asking for it as well, because it's working.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

You have 22 seconds left.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Oh, I do. Thank you very much. I'll hold that over for my next round, if you don't mind, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

We will go to Dr. Eyolfson for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to thank all the witnesses for coming.

To give full disclosure, I am taking natural health products after my bypass and two cardiac stents. I am on a multivitamin, vitamin C and vitamin D. There's very good evidence in the cardiology literature that those improve outcomes for people with my level of coronary artery disease.

In the previous hour, I did not get a chance to address this point from a witness who said that natural health products are not drugs and do not make medical claims.

I'm going to give you a specific example. St. John's wort, for those who aren't familiar with it, has an active ingredient called “hyperforin”. Its mechanism of action is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, an SSRI. This is marketed for depression. It says that on the package: “treating depression”. Interestingly enough, it's also marketed to treat the symptoms of menopause.

I also know, having treated many patients on prescribed SSRIs, that they can have a very long list of medical interactions, which interact adversely with a number of medications.

Dr. Faisal, would you say it's accurate to say that natural health products are not drugs and do not make medical claims, given what we know about this product?

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

Thank you so much.

I think you have answered your question already. Natural health products are intended for treating or managing medical conditions.

St. John's wort is an example. There are a lot of other natural health products that you can pick up from the pharmacy shelves that claim a medication can either boost your immunity or prevent you from having a cold. Vitamin C is another great example where a lot of the time we do see those claims on those bottles.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

All right. Thank you.

Another natural health product we've seen is pills of concentrated cranberry juice that say on the label “for treatment of urinary tract infections”. I've practised medicine for 25 years. I have yet to find any verification that there is any effect on the course of a urinary tract infection or any actual peer-reviewed data that cranberry juice affects the course of a urinary tract infection. Are you aware of any peer-reviewed literature that corroborates that this treats as is claimed?

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

I'm not aware of any peer-reviewed evidence. The research I'm aware of is that you have to actually drink three jugs of cranberry juice if you really want to achieve any benefit from the claims that have been placed on these products.

I'm not saying that these products do not manage conditions or that they are not there to treat. They are.

I think that's what is really important. That's why it's very important that the claim has to be very clear and evidence-based and you can provide that information to your patient so the patient can use these products safely with their other prescription and non-prescription medications.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

All right. Thank you.

I'd like to go on to the use of a natural health product with prescription medication. Another witness talked about vitamins and made a list of vitamins that are all natural health products, including vitamin K. Let's say someone had an artificial heart valve surgically implanted and needs to be on warfarin for that. Can you describe the potential interactions and side effects for someone who's on warfarin taking vitamin K?

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

If you are taking warfarin for any kind of cardiac event as an anticoagulant—a blood thinner, in layman's terms—you are taking it so that your blood does not coagulate. If you take additional vitamin K with that, you are actually potentiating the effect of warfarin, which could seriously harm your patient.

[Andrea Donsky]

May I add something?

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Please.

[Andrea Donsky]

I was talking earlier about how there are different forms of vitamin K. There's vitamin K1, which interacts, and then there's vitamin K2 MK-7, which was the one I was referring to.

Interestingly enough, my dad's in the hospital. I was just with him. He has a pacemaker and he has a defibrillator. He had emergency surgery Friday night.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

I'm sorry. I don't want to take up too much time. I'd just like to get quickly to the meat of the question.

[Andrea Donsky]

Basically, I wanted to say that I asked a doctor about my dad taking vitamin D with K2 MK-7. Would it interfere with surgery? He said it absolutely would not. It was not the type of vitamin K that would cause that bleeding.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

All right, but that leads me to another question. As most people don't know the difference between these types of vitamin K, does it not make sense that, given the potentially serious nature of this interaction, it should be regulated by Health Canada?

[Andrea Donsky]

I think everyone always has to speak to their doctor. Even as a supplement company, one thing we say all the time is to always speak to your doctor before taking any supplement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Madame Gaudreau for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We've just seen that science is vital. We all know people who have been affected by a molecular interaction. Some people have even become pregnant. I'm talking about St. John's wort, to name just one example. Be careful, ladies.

I'll begin the discussion by quoting from a brief submitted by the Centre antipoison du Québec:Data collected … show a constant increase in natural health product exposures in recent years … 2,262 cases were reported in the first six months of 2026 alone. More than 40% of these reports involved children [all young people] under the age of five, and about 15% involved seniors over the age of 70. Over a third of people who were exposed showed signs or symptoms of poisoning, 22% needed to be assessed in a health care facility, and more than 80 people a year have experienced clinical effects of more than moderate severity.

Ms. Faisal, in your practice, what are the main risks when patients take natural health products along with prescription medications?

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

When patients take prescription medications or certain non-prescription medications with natural health products, sometimes there might be a risk of drug interaction. A very common example I can give is turmeric, which is a very commonly used natural product in a lot of Ayurvedic medications. You can find turmeric on pharmacy shelves. Turmeric can actually cause some rare liver side effects. It can also impact coagulation. If you are taking medications like warfarin or other medications that can impact your coagulation parameters, it can actually impact that.

St. John's wort is another example that was mentioned. There are a lot of other medications. Before anybody purchases a natural health product, it's always recommended that they talk to their pharmacist or their health care provider to make sure those medications are not interacting with their prescription and non-prescription medications.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I realize that I could give my children this advice.

We've been talking about a study from 2004, and it's almost 2027. We agree that, as soon as we turn on our smart device, we're shown a whole range of products. These products may be quite good, but they must be assessed.

Perhaps my colleagues have systematic access to their pharmacist. That's not the case for me. I certainly want to be able to access a product safely. I agree with that.

You can see that patients are taking multiple supplements, vitamins and so on. You spoke earlier about the risks. Are there actually risks associated with self‑medication? The process no longer takes place solely within your pharmacy, where people come to you for advice. People can also use their smart device and have products delivered to their homes.

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

Yes, definitely. If you take certain medications, if you have certain medical conditions or if you are an older adult who has multiple chronic conditions, anything that you are ordering, whether you are ordering it online or purchasing it at your pharmacy, can interact with your prescription or non-prescription medications.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I understand the importance of all products, including natural health products. I use them myself. I've checked my sources, of course.

I asked a question earlier about an amendment, specifically regarding the right to resubmit a claim. What are your thoughts on this?

[Dr. Sadaf Faisal]

Our perspective on the bill is that natural health products are already regulated under different regulations by Health Canada. We are not asking that they be regulated like prescription medications.

Yes, their risk is low, but there is still a risk. What we are saying is that we need to make sure that the additional safety layer that you need after these products are available in the market is there for safety concerns such as contamination or inaccurate dosage or labelling on these products, or if a rare adverse effect has been reported. If those safety layers were to be removed, there could be some inappropriate impact on patients and the safety of their health.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.