Much of the information on this page came from Ross Pelton's Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion Handbook, because he posted it on the Nutrition Science News website, before they folded in 2002.
This type of information is difficult to gather and to keep updated, because so many new drugs come out, and so many older drugs are pulled off the market.
Even so, if you look at the various tables, what you will see over-and-over is that most of these drugs, regardless of the class they are in, deplete key nutrients like the B, C and D vitamins, as well as Co-Q 10, and also wipes out (or blocks absorption of) various essential minerals.
So, the ideal is, IF you have to take a drug, then you may offset many of the possible side effects by taking (replenishing) those nutrients.
If there are terms in these articles you don't understand, you can get a definition from the Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary. If you want information about a specific disease, you can access the Merck Manual of Disease. You can also search Pub Med for more abstracts on this topic..
Several different factors may be involved in vitamin and mineral deficiencies. For example, abnormal loss, utilization or subnormal absorption, intake, storage, or transport, singularly or in combination, may readily lead to symptoms of nutritional deficiency. The following charts identify each condition.
While pharmaceuticals have lifesaving benefits, many of these medications can have serious side effects, ranging from cardiac arrest to suicide. Millions of Americans suffer from an almost completely ignored epidemic of drug-induced nutrient depletion that can cause grave health problems. Perhaps 30% of pharmaceutical side effects are the direct result of these drug-induced nutrient deficiencies. In other words, a drug “robs” you of one or more nutrients or other helpful substances, and this lack of nutrients causes additional side effects. In a sense, the drug acts as an “anti-vitamin pill,” taking away the substances you need for good health. Thus, nutrient depletion caused by the drugs—rather than the drugs themselves—is often directly responsible for many of the side effects associated with pharmaceuticals.
Concurrent use of herbs may mimic, magnify, or oppose the effect of drugs. Plausible cases of herb-drug interactions include: bleeding when warfarin is combined with ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), garlic (Allium sativum), dong quai (Angelica sinensis), or danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza); mild serotonin syndrome in patients who mix St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) with serotonin-reuptake inhibitors; decreased bioavailability of digoxin, theophylline, cyclosporin, and phenprocoumon when these drugs are combined with St John's wort; induction of mania in depressed patients who mix antidepressants and Panax ginseng; exacerbation of extrapyramidal effects with neuroleptic drugs and betel nut (Areca catechu); increased risk of hypertension when tricyclic antidepressants are combined with yohimbine (Pausinystalia yohimbe); potentiation of oral and topical corticosteroids by liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra); decreased blood concentrations of prednisolone when taken with the Chinese herbal product xaio chai hu tang (sho-salko-to); and decreased concentrations of phenytoin when combined with the Ayurvedic syrup shankhapushpi. Anthranoid-containing plants (including senna [Cassia senna] and cascara [Rhamnus purshiana]) and soluble fibres (including guar gum and psyllium) can decrease the absorption of drugs. Many reports of herb-drug interactions are sketchy and lack laboratory analysis of suspect preparations. Health-care practitioners should caution patients against mixing herbs and pharmaceutical drugs.