How do food and medicine interact
Medicines can affect and be affected by your nutritional intake. Vitamins, minerals or other nutritional components can alter the way a drug is absorbed while on the other hand some drugs can cause nutritional deficiencies. Some drugs are known to affect appetite, taste and digestion. Therefore it is very necessary that you ask your doctor what you should eat and what you should avoid while taking the medicines he has prescribed for your ailment. Having said this, one must add that it is equally important to consider the manner in which the medicines are to be taken.
Effect of liquids on drugs
Juice: Orange or other citrus fruit juices have a lot of sodium and potassium which can make the urine alkaline and affect the flushing out of the drug or unwanted drug metabolite (end-product). If their levels in the blood increase above the desired level, symptoms of confusion or even lethargy can set in.
Coffee/tea: Coffee or tea interacts with agents, which act on the nervous system (eg. Lithium) and affect the absorption of the drug and therefore their therapeutic effects. If caffeine is taken in large quantities by patients on psychiatric drugs, they do not derive the maximum effect. Asthma patients should also refrain from taking in too much of tea or coffee as this can increase the side effects of the drug they are taking, such as nervousness and sleeplessness.
Milk and other dairy products: Milk is another medium, which a lot of people use to swallow tablets. It has been found that calcium interacts with tetracycline and therefore milk should be avoided when taking this drug.
Alcohol: Alcohol should be completely avoided while taking antibiotics or drugs for diabetes and hypertension. It can lead to adverse effects like flushing, pounding heart beat, shortness of breath, dizziness and weakness.
Meals and medication
To be taken with meals: some medicines like medication for arthritis should not be taken on empty stomach as it can cause pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
To be taken on empty stomach: Drugs such as aspirin and anti-microbial agents (penicillin and chephalixin) should not be taken with meals.
When you are advised to take a medicine on empty stomach, it means that the drug should be taken atleast one hour before a meal or two hours after eating. Take the drug with a glassful of water to wash it down.
Some home remedies too have diet norms which need to be followed to get the maximum benefit. Like for example while taking turmeric with honey for sore throat, you should not eat anything or even drink water half an hour before or after taking the medication so as to let the coat of turmeric remain in tact and act.
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