Drug & supplement interaction

Cabbage + Nivolumab

Nivolumab brand name: Opdivo.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Cabbage and Nivolumab in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the label for Nivolumab states a food rule worth keeping to, and the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Cabbage and Nivolumab

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Nivolumab and Cabbage in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Cabbage safety at a glance

Cabbage overall Generally safe Cabbage is safe for most people when eaten as a food.
Pregnancy Use caution Safe as a normal food, but concentrated supplements or large medicinal amounts are not well studied.
Breastfeeding Likely Safe When used topically and appropriately, short-term. Significant adverse effects have not been reported in short-term studies. There is insufficient reliable info... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Nivolumab and Cabbage? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Nivolumab

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Nivolumab is filed under a single classification — antineoplastics. Cabbage has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — the most serious being acetaminophen (tylenol, others) (moderate), antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and cytochrome p450 1a2 (cyp1a2) substrates (moderate) — and none of Nivolumab’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Cabbage Does Interact With Other Medications

Cabbage has 325 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Nivolumab isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 325 No known interaction 2,505 (incl. Nivolumab)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Cabbage

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Cabbage. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Cabbage and Nivolumab May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Joint pain / Itching Additional detail

    Cabbage

    “Some preliminary clinical research shows that application of cabbage leaf wraps to knee joints for at least 2 hours daily for 4 weeks is generally well-tolerated. Of the 27 patients using cabbage leaf wraps in this study, one patient reported an itching and burning sensation during the application. This patient was later found to have shingles, which may explain the adverse event.”

    Cabbage · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in herpes zoster (shingles).

    2 sources cited
    1. 93671. Lauche R, Graf N, Cramer H, Al-Abtah J, Dobos G, Saha FJ. Efficacy of cabbage leaf wraps in the treatment of symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized controlled trial. Clin J Pain 2016;32(11):961-71. PubMed
    2. 93675. Milanesi N, Gola M. Irritant contact dermatitis caused by Savoy cabbage. Contact Dermatitis 2016;74(1):60-1. PubMed

    Nivolumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Nivolumab. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • A skin rash reported in 3.2% of FDA reports for Nivolumab Additional detail

    Cabbage

    “Topically, cabbage may cause contact dermatitis. Allergic reactions to cabbage-related vegetables are rare. However, anaphylactic reactions to broccoli and cauliflower have been reported. Because the surface proteins believed to cause allergic reactions to brocolli are also found in cabbage, some patients allergic to brocolli or other vegetables in the Brassicaceae family may also be allergic to cabbage.”

    Cabbage · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    2 sources cited
    1. 93675. Milanesi N, Gola M. Irritant contact dermatitis caused by Savoy cabbage. Contact Dermatitis 2016;74(1):60-1. PubMed
    2. 92516. Dolle S, Hompes S, Lange L, Worm M. Cabbage allergy: a rare cause of food-induced anaphylaxis. Acta Derm Venereol 2013;93(4):485-6. PubMed

    Nivolumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Nivolumab, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Cabbage but not commonly for Nivolumab: an allergic reaction.

Effects for Nivolumab come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Cabbage come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 96,645 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Nivolumab that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Cabbage in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Lactation Likely Safe

When used topically and appropriately, short-term. Significant adverse effects have not been reported in short-term studies. There is insufficient reliable information available about using cabbage orally in medicinal amounts during lactation; avoid using.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

How to take them

Some Nivolumab Products Have a Food Rule — Cabbage Should Not Break It

At least one FDA label for a product containing Nivolumab says to take it on an empty stomach. Most supplements — Cabbage included — are taken with a meal, so the easy mistake is swallowing both together at breakfast. Where that rule applies, keep Nivolumab on its own and move Cabbage to a meal later in the day.

This may not be true of your version. Food instructions belong to the product, not the ingredient: two Nivolumab products can carry different directions, and extended-release forms often differ from immediate-release ones. The label we read is quoted below — check the directions on your own box or bottle, or ask your pharmacist, for how to take the exact product you were given.

Table 2: Recommended Dosages of Intravenous OPDIVO in Combination with Other Therapeutic Agents Indication Recommended OPDIVO Dosage Duration of Therapy Unresectable or metastatic melanoma 1 mg/kg every 3 weeks with ipilimumab 3 mg/kg In combination with ipilimumab for a maximum of 4 doses or until unacceptable toxicity, whichever occurs earlier Adult patients and pediatric patients aged 12 years

From the Dosage and Administration section of the FDA label we read for Nivolumab — where that label names a specific product, the instruction is that product's. Read the label on DailyMed ›

A food rule is not an interaction — it is about how much of the medicine you absorb. The directions that came with your own product, and your pharmacist, outrank anything on this page.

Overlapping uses

What Nivolumab Is Prescribed For, and What Cabbage Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Nivolumab is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Cabbage is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Nivolumab is prescribed for: Opdivo (nivolumab) is used to treat many types of cancer in adults, and some in patients 12 years and older. It can be used alone or in combination with other therapies depending on the cancer type and stage. Cancers it treats include melanoma (including after surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back), non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), classical Hodgkin lymphoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, urothelial carcinoma (bladder cancer), colorectal cancer with specific genetic features (MSI-H or dMMR), hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), esophageal cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and gastric (stomach) cancer. Some uses require the tumor to test positive for a protein called PD-L1, and some are specific to certain stages of disease or prior treatments received.

Read the rest of what Nivolumab is prescribed for

Your oncologist will determine which use applies to your situation.

Cabbage has been studied for:

  • Bladder cancer studied, not established Cabbage has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Cabbage for bladder cancer

    It is unclear if consuming cabbage is effective for the prevention of bladder cancer.

  • Lung cancer studied, not established Cabbage has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Cabbage for lung cancer

    It is unclear if consuming cabbage is effective for the prevention of lung cancer.

  • Gastric cancer studied, not established Cabbage has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Cabbage for gastric cancer

    It is unclear if consuming cabbage is effective for the prevention of gastric cancer.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Nivolumab on your own; if you are taking Cabbage for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Nivolumab

This page covers Cabbage only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Nivolumab page lists 1 supplement it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: American Pawpaw (minor).

By severity: 1 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Nivolumab page

“Nivolumab (Opdivo) is an immunotherapy infusion that trains the body's own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, the kind of drug you might expect to carry a long list of supplement warnings. It does not.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Nivolumab interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Cabbage as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 2,304 real supplement products containing Cabbage, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Cabbage. Even though Cabbage itself has no known interaction with Nivolumab, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Cabbage and Nivolumab Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Cabbage
Top 25%

#175 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Nivolumab
Steady interest

#2,085 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Cabbage reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Cabbage and Nivolumab records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Cabbage

What is Cabbage?

Cabbage
  • Breast engorgement during breastfeeding
  • Joint pain and swelling (topical)
  • Digestive and stomach upset
  • General nutrition and antioxidant support
  • Skin and minor inflammation (topical)

Cabbage is a nutritious, low-calorie vegetable that is safe to eat as food and is sometimes applied to the skin as a leaf wrap for breast engorgement or sore joints. Most medicinal claims are based on tradition or limited research, with the strongest (though still modest) evidence being for cooling cabbage leaves on engorged breasts. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using cabbage in large amounts or as a treatment.

Brassica oleracea · Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) · Leaves (head); also juice and extracts · Fresh vegetable, raw leaves, juice, fermented (sauerkraut), capsules, and topical leaf wraps

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Cabbage is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Cabbage record says about it on its own.

Cabbage: dosing

There is no standardized medicinal dose for cabbage. As a food, it can be eaten freely as part of a balanced diet.For breast engorgement, a common traditional approach is to apply clean, chilled cabbage leaves to the breasts for a limited time and remove them once they wilt or symptoms ease. For supplements or juice, follow the product label.

From our Cabbage monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Cabbage monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Nivolumab Injection

What Is Nivolumab Injection Used For?

Brand name: Opdivo

Opdivo (nivolumab) is used to treat many types of cancer in adults, and some in patients 12 years and older. It can be used alone or in combination with other therapies depending on the cancer type and stage. Cancers it treats include melanoma (including after surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back), non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, advanced renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), classical Hodgkin lymphoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, urothelial carcinoma (bladder cancer), colorectal cancer with specific genetic features (MSI-H or dMMR), hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), esophageal cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and gastric (stomach) cancer.

Some uses require the tumor to test positive for a protein called PD-L1, and some are specific to certain stages of disease or prior treatments received. Your oncologist will determine which use applies to your situation.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Nivolumab

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (96,645 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Malignant neoplasm progression 9,878 reports
Diarrhea 5,251 reports
Fatigue 4,195 reports
Fever 3,721 reports
Nausea 3,182 reports
See full Nivolumab Injection drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Cabbage

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Cabbage — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
325Moderate
0Minor
2,504No known interaction
325 Moderate 2,504 No interaction
Moderate

325 interactions

Showing 60 of 325 moderate interactions — see all 325 on the Cabbage page.

No interaction 2,504 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Cabbage against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,504 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Cabbage list.

See the full Cabbage interactions page
See every supplement checked against Nivolumab, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Cabbage References

The 15 references that drive our Cabbage monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Brinker F. Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions. 2nd ed. Sandy, OR: Eclectic Medical Publications, 1998.
  2. Pantuck EJ, Pantuck CB, Anderson KE, et al. Effect of brussels sprouts and cabbage on drug conjugation. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1984;35:161-9. PubMed
  3. Roberts KL. A comparison of chilled cabbage leaves and chilled gelpaks in reducing breast engorgement. J Hum Lact 1995;11:17-20. PubMed
  4. Roberts KL, Reiter M, Schuster D. A comparison of chilled and room temperature cabbage leaves in treating breast engorgement. J Hum Lact 1995;11:191-4. PubMed
  5. Roberts KL, Reiter M, Schuster D. Effects of cabbage leaf extract on breast engorgement. J Hum Lact 1998;14:231-6. PubMed
  6. Nikodem VC, Danziger D, Gebka N, et al. Do cabbage leaves prevent breast engorgement? A randomized, controlled study. Birth 1993;20:61-4. PubMed
  7. Balk JL. Indole-3-carbinol for cancer prevention. Altern Med Alert 2000; 3:105-7.
  8. He YH, Friesen MD, Ruch RJ, Schut HA. Indole-3-carbinol as a chemopreventive agent in 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) carcinogenesis: inhibition of PhIP-DNA adduct formation, acceleration of PhIP metabolism, and induction of cytoch
  9. Platel, K. and Srinivasan, K. Plant foods in the management of diabetes mellitus: vegetables as potential hypoglycaemic agents. Nahrung 1997;41(2):68-74. PubMed
  10. Steinkellner, H., Rabot, S., Freywald, C., Nobis, E., Scharf, G., Chabicovsky, M., Knasmuller, S., and Kassie, F. Effects of cruciferous vegetables and their constituents on drug metabolizing enzymes involved in the bioactivation of DNA-reactive dietary c
  11. Dolle S, Hompes S, Lange L, Worm M. Cabbage allergy: a rare cause of food-induced anaphylaxis. Acta Derm Venereol 2013;93(4):485-6. PubMed
  12. Lauche R, Graf N, Cramer H, Al-Abtah J, Dobos G, Saha FJ. Efficacy of cabbage leaf wraps in the treatment of symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized controlled trial. Clin J Pain 2016;32(11):961-71. PubMed
  13. Lim AR, Song JA, Hur MH, Lee MK, Lee MS. Cabbage compression early breast care on breast engorgement in primiparous women after cesarean birth: a controlled trial. Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(11):21335-42.
  14. Milanesi N, Gola M. Irritant contact dermatitis caused by Savoy cabbage. Contact Dermatitis 2016;74(1):60-1. PubMed
  15. Saini P, Saini R. Cabbage leaves and breast engorgement. Indian J Public Health 2014;58(4):291-2. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Cabbage and Nivolumab Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Cabbage with Nivolumab?
We do not list a known interaction between Cabbage and Nivolumab. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Cabbage and Nivolumab have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Should I take Cabbage and Nivolumab at the same time of day?
At least one FDA label for a product containing Nivolumab says to take it on an empty stomach, and supplements are usually taken with a meal — so taking them together at breakfast is the easy mistake. Where that applies, keep Nivolumab on its own and move Cabbage to a meal later in the day. Food instructions belong to the product rather than the ingredient, so check the directions on your own box. This is about absorption, not an interaction.
Are Cabbage and Nivolumab used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Cabbage in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Nivolumab is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Cabbage and Nivolumab combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Nivolumab is filed under 1 classification, and Cabbage has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — none of Nivolumab's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Cabbage interact with any other medications?
Yes. Cabbage has 325 documented drug interactions in our database — Nivolumab is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Nivolumab interact with any supplements?
Yes. Nivolumab has documented interactions with 1 supplement in our database — Cabbage is not one of them. The Nivolumab interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Cabbage monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Nivolumab Injection drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Nivolumab supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Nivolumab, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 15 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Nivolumab and Cabbage?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.