Book excerpt: Scientists, health professionals, and consumers are increasingly interested in the relationships between food components and food-drug combinations as they strive to find more effective ways to prevent or treat chronic disease. As one of the first unified and in-depth sources in this emerging topic, Food-Drug Synergy and Safety explores the vast potential benefits of food and food-drug synergy. The book addresses the interaction of two or more components within a single food, between several foods, or between foods and drugs consumed together, in which the potential health benefit is greater than the effect of the single component, food, or drug. Each chapter follows a consistent framework and addresses the health benefits, mechanisms of action, and safety aspects pertaining to the food and food-drug synergies. Sections discuss food and food-drug synergies in the context of specific disease groups, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases, hypertension, and obesity, for easy reference in a clinical setting. A separate section focuses entirely on performance enhancers, including caffeine, creatine, and ephedrine/ephedra, and their potential to influence human health in addition to ergogenic applications. The final section provides scientists with a framework for designing experiments that elucidate the heath benefits and safety aspects of food and food-drug synergies. Food-Drug Synergy and Safety lays the essential foundation in this new direction of research as it gains momentum in the fields of food, nutrition, medicine, and pharmaceutical sciences.