How To Avoid Food And Drug Interactions

Keeping yourself protected starts by doing your homework

Ever wonder why some medications tell you not to take them with certain foods? It’s simple: Certain food/drug combinations lead to potentially harmful interactions. But avoiding interactions is easier than you think. Here’s how.

What are food and drug interactions?

“A food/drug interaction is a change in how a particular medicine affects you when it’s taken with certain food or beverages,” says Micaela Mitchell, pharmacy manager at Geisinger Medical Center. “Interactions can alter the way medicine works, making it less effective or causing more severe side effects.”

Reactions aren’t just limited to prescription drugs. They can also happen with over-the counter medications, including:

Vitamins
Supplements
Acid reducers
Herbs
Antihistamines
Pain relievers

How food/drug interactions happen

Certain types of food — even in small quantities — sometimes impact the medicine you take.

Foods that change how your body reacts to medication include:

Grapefruit
Dairy products
Leafy greens
Alcohol
Aged cheese and cured meat
Black licorice

Depending on the type of medicine you’re taking, interaction can happen in a few different ways, including:

Differences in absorption

Some foods change how quickly your body absorbs medicine after you take it. Others can block the absorption entirely. This can increase or worsen side effects or even cause new ones.

Changes to metabolism

Your liver may have trouble processing medicine when it’s taken with food or beverages.

Increased elimination

The food you eat can bind with ingredients in your medication. “This can make you eliminate the drug more quickly, making it less effective,” Ms. Mitchell says.

Preventing food and drug interactions

As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Protecting yourself from adverse medicine interactions starts with a little bit of education. Keep these things in mind when beginning a new medicine.

Have a conversation

Head off potential interactions at the pass by keeping the lines of communication open. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about potential interaction. “Make sure your care team knows about all the medications and supplements you’re taking,” says Ms. Mitchell. “This can help them avoid prescribing certain medicines that may increase your risk of an interaction.”

Know why you’re taking your medications

Since the names of many medications can be difficult to remember and pronounce, knowing why you’re taking a certain one can be a big help to your doctor.

If you mispronounce a prescription but know what it’s treating, your doctor may be less likely to prescribe something that may negatively interact with it.

Check the label

Read the instructions and labels on new medications to learn how to properly take them and what to avoid combining them with. “Reading the labels and instructions will educate you about side effects, too,” says Ms. Mitchell.

Consider timing

Reading the label will let you know the best time — morning, afternoon, evening — to take your medicine. It also tells you if there are foods you should avoid eating within a certain window before or after your dose. “It’s crucial to note that medications may not be affected by the food itself so much as when you eat it,” Ms. Mitchell says.

For example, having dairy products or caffeine too close to your medicine dose can interfere with the absorption.

Stay consistent

Another helpful way to ward off potential interactions? Take your medication the same way each time you take a dose. That could be always taking it with food or lying down for a few minutes after you take it. Also, be sure to take it at the same time each day.

Be mindful of supplements

Supplements are an excellent way to boost your health, but they can also lead to reactions. If you plan to start a new supplement — or you’ll be starting a new medicine and you already take supplements — talk to your healthcare provider first.

Keep every med in mind

When you’re taking medicine, especially multiple medications, you need to understand how they may react. Keeping your care team informed of everything you take, from prescriptions to over-the-counter meds to supplements, will help you all stay on top of things. Using the same pharmacy for everything helps, too.

If you do take things that may interact, your provider or pharmacist can make recommendations or adjustments to help you avoid potential reactions.