Drug & supplement interaction

Hops + Melphalan

Melphalan brand names: Alkeran, Hepzato.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 27, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Hops and Melphalan 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 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

Hops and Melphalan

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 Melphalan and Hops 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.

Hops safety at a glance

Hops overall Use caution Generally well tolerated short-term but may cause drowsiness; long-term safety is not well studied.
Pregnancy Avoid Not enough safety information; best avoided during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Avoid Safety is unknown, so avoid use while breastfeeding.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

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

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Melphalan

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Melphalan is filed under 3 classifications — alkylating agents, antineoplastics, oral drugs. Hops has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — the most serious being cns depressants (moderate), estrogens (moderate) and cytochrome p450 1a2 (cyp1a2) substrates (minor) — and none of Melphalan’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

Hops Does Interact With Other Medications

Hops has 289 moderate, 574 minor known drug interactions in our database — Melphalan isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 289 Minor 574 No known interaction 1,967 (incl. Melphalan)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Hops

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Hops and Melphalan May Share a Side Effect

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. One of them is worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • An allergic reaction Worth acting on Additional detail

    Hops

    “Topically, allergic reactions have been reported after contact with the fresh hops plant and plant dust. Contact dermatitis is attributed to the pollen (4,12,105930).”

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

    3 sources cited
    1. 4. Newall CA, Anderson LA, Philpson JD. Herbal Medicine: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London, UK: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996.
    2. 12. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.
    3. 105930. Assessment report on Humulus lupulus L., flos. European Medicines Agency, 2014. Available at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-report/final-assessment-report-humulus-lupulus-l-flos_en.pdf. Accessed September 29, 2021.

    Melphalan

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

Reported for Hops but not commonly for Melphalan: a skin rash, cough, bleeding or bruising and shortness of breath.

Effects for Melphalan come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Hops come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Melphalan

This page covers Hops only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Melphalan page lists 25 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Acerola (moderate), Alpha-lipoic Acid (moderate), Coenzyme Q10 (moderate) and Coffee Charcoal (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 14 moderate · 10 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Melphalan page

“Melphalan is chemotherapy, most often given for multiple myeloma, and anything that weakens it can cost real ground against the cancer, so treat this list with genuine care. The one major entry is activated charcoal, which soaks up drugs in the gut and can lower melphalan exposure even when the drug is given by IV.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Melphalan interaction page

One more smart check

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

We hold 1,325 real supplement products containing Hops, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Hops. Even though Hops itself has no known interaction with Melphalan, 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 Hops and Melphalan 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 Hops
Top 25%

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

29 days ago today
Medication Melphalan
Top 25%

#497 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 Hops reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 27, 2026. The Hops and Melphalan 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 Hops

What is Hops?

Hops
  • Sleep problems and insomnia
  • Anxiety and restlessness
  • Menopausal symptoms
  • Mild digestive complaints
  • Flavoring in beer and food

Hops are most often used for sleep and mild anxiety, frequently combined with valerian, but the human evidence is limited and not very strong. They are generally well tolerated when used short-term, though they may cause drowsiness, and should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding because their safety is unknown.

Humulus lupulus · Cannabaceae · Female flowers (cones or strobiles) and their extracts · Capsules, tablets, tinctures, teas, dried flowers, and combination sleep formulas (often with valerian)

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

Hops: dosing

There is no well-established standardized dose for hops, and products vary widely in strength and form. Many sleep products combine hops with valerian, which makes a single recommended dose hard to define.The safest approach is to follow the directions on the product label and not exceed them. For sleep aids, short-term use is generally preferred over long-term daily use.

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

Read the full Hops monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Melphalan

What Is Melphalan Used For?

Brand names: Alkeran, Hepzato

Melphalan treats multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. Which use applies depends on the product.

Ivra and melphalan hydrochloride for injection are used for palliative (symptom-easing) treatment of multiple myeloma when oral therapy is not appropriate. Evomela is used as high-dose conditioning treatment before a stem cell transplant in people with multiple myeloma.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Melphalan

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (0 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Febrile neutropenia 1,317 reports
Plasma cell myeloma 1,274 reports
Neutropenia 1,234 reports
Mucosal inflammation 1,229 reports
Fever 1,175 reports
See full Melphalan drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Hops

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

0Major
289Moderate
574Minor
1,966No known interaction
289 Moderate 574 Minor 1,966 No interaction
Moderate

289 interactions

Showing 60 of 289 moderate interactions — see all 289 on the Hops page.

Minor

574 interactions

Showing 60 of 574 minor interactions — see all 574 on the Hops page.

No interaction 1,966 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 1,966 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Hops list.

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

Hops References

The 15 references that drive our Hops 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. Newall CA, Anderson LA, Philpson JD. Herbal Medicine: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London, UK: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996.
  2. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.
  3. Zava DT, Dollbaum CM, Blen M. Estrogen and progestin bioactivity of foods, herbs, and spices. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1998;217:369-78. PubMed
  4. Milligan SR, Kalita JC, Heyerick A, et al. Identification of a potent phytoestrogen in hops (Humulus lupulus L.) and beer. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1999;84:2249-52.. PubMed
  5. Milligan SR, Kalita JC, Pocock V, et al. The endocrine activities of 8-prenylnaringenin and related hop (Humulus lupulus L.) flavonoids. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000;85:4912-5.. DOI
  6. Henderson MC, Miranda CL, Stevens JF, et al. In vitro inhibition of human P450 enzymes by prenylated flavonoids from hops, Humulus lupulus. Xenobiotica 2000;30:235-51.. PubMed
  7. Mannering, G. J., Shoeman, J. A., and Deloria, L. B. Identification of the antibiotic hops component, colupulone, as an inducer of hepatic cytochrome P-4503A in the mouse. Drug Metab Dispos 1992;20(2):142-147. DOI
  8. Skorska, C., Mackiewicz, B., Gora, A., Golec, M., and Dutkiewicz, J. Health effects of inhalation exposure to organic dust in hops farmers. Ann.Univ Mariae.Curie Sklodowska [Med] 2003;58(1):459-465.
  9. Schiller, H., Forster, A., Vonhoff, C., Hegger, M., Biller, A., and Winterhoff, H. Sedating effects of Humulus lupulus L. extracts. Phytomedicine. 2006;13(8):535-541. PubMed
  10. van Hunsel, F. P. and Kampschoer, P. [Postmenopausal bleeding and dietary supplements: a possible causal relationship with hop- and soy-containing preparations]. Ned.Tijdschr.Geneeskd. 2012;156(41):A5095.
  11. Fenselau, C. and Talalay, P. Is oestrogenic activity present in hops? Food Cosmet.Toxicol. 1973;11(4):597-602. PubMed
  12. Godnic-Cvar, J., Zuskin, E., Mustajbegovic, J., Schachter, E. N., Kanceljak, B., Macan, J., Ilic, Z., and Ebling, Z. Respiratory and immunological findings in brewery workers. Am J Ind Med 1999;35(1):68-75. DOI
  13. Lee KM, Jung JS, Song DK, and et al. Effects of Humulus lupulus extract on the central nervous system in mice. Planta Med 1993;59(Suppl):A691.
  14. Assessment report on Humulus lupulus L., flos. European Medicines Agency, 2014. Available at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-report/final-assessment-report-humulus-lupulus-l-flos_en.pdf. Accessed September 29, 2021.
  15. van Breemen RB, Chen L, Tonsing-Carter A, et al. Pharmacokinetic Interactions of a Hop Dietary Supplement with Drug Metabolism in Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Women. J Agric Food Chem. 2020;68(18):5212-5220. 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 Hops and Melphalan Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Hops with Melphalan?
We do not list a known interaction between Hops and Melphalan. 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 Hops and Melphalan have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to one 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.
How was the Hops and Melphalan combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Melphalan is filed under 3 classifications, and Hops has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — none of Melphalan'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 Hops interact with any other medications?
Yes. Hops has 863 documented drug interactions in our database — Melphalan 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 Melphalan interact with any supplements?
Yes. Melphalan has documented interactions with 25 supplements in our database — Hops is not one of them. The Melphalan 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

Hops monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Melphalan drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Melphalan supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Melphalan, 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 Melphalan and Hops?

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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.