american english - What does this mean: "Avoid oral calcium, dairy products, shark cartilage & exercise during the medication."


I found this behind a medicine. At first thought, the sentence looks like it suggests avoiding exercise during the medication. However, I remember reading somewhere that in US English, when there is a list of items, the last item is NOT preceded by "and" unlike in British English. E.g.:




  • American English: "item1, item2, item3 are the items in this list."

  • British English : "item1, item2 and item3 are the items in this list."



This being an American medicine, should I infer that I should avoid oral calcium, dairy products and shark cartilage, and do exercise during the medication?


I know it sounds trivial, but something like this on a medicine, I better get the facts right.


And for the record: The medicine is not for me. I was asked this question and was wondering myself.


Edit: The original text was "Avoid oral calcium, dairy products, shark cartilage & exercise during the cleanse". I had to change "during the cleanse" to "during the medication" to give the question's title sufficient context.




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