There are some medications that should not be taken with certain food and drinks because they can cause drug interaction. We explain what they are.
If you take one or more medications you should know a concept that in medicine is known as drug interaction. A Lown Institute study found that 42% of older adults in the United States take 5 or more prescription drugs a day.
The drug interactions It can affect any of the medicines you take, making it less effective, causing unexpected side effects, or increasing its potency. Sometimes the interaction can cause serious damage to health.
What foods and drinks cause drug interactions?
There are three types of drug interactions:
- Interaction of a medicine with another medicine
- Interaction of medicine with food or drinks
- Interaction of medicines with underlying diseases
(Photo: Special)
The drug interaction with food and drink it can slow operation, increase it, or completely disinhibit it. These interactions often occur with prescription or over-the-counter medications.
These are some of the foods y drinks which is better to avoid when taking medicines prescribed. Consult your doctor and review the medication instructions.
Dairy products
Medicines antibiotics as the doxycycline, the minocycline and the ciprofloxacin should not be taken with dairy products such as milk, cheese or yogurt, since the calcium present in these products affects the absorption of the antibiotic, which can cause a decrease in its effectiveness.
green leafy vegetables
Anticoagulant medications such as warfarin or the coumadin and the foods they contain Vitamin K such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage or Swiss chard, or vegetable oils with high amounts of vitamin K can affect how the medicine works.
It is recommended that you consult your doctor before stopping consuming these foods and if you do, you must consume the same amount of salad and only three times a week.
Foods with tyramine (cured meats and soy)
Los antidepressants called monoamine oxidase inhibitors may have drug interactions dangerous to increase blood pressure with foods with high concentrations of tyramine such as smoked and cured meats, aged cheeses, fermented foods, red wine, draft beers, soy products, and green plantains.
(Photo: Special)
Pink grapefruit
consumption of pink grapefruit or its juice can inhibit an enzyme necessary for the metabolism of statins. What happens is that the drug stays in the blood and builds up, causing side effects like muscle pain.
Bananas and other potassium-rich foods
if you take medicines angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (Capote y univasc) used to reduce the blood pressureIt is advisable to avoid foods rich in potassium such as bananas, avocado, tomatoes and dried apricots, since your blood pressure can increase drastically.
Fruit juice
if you take medicines for the blood pressureAvoid grapefruit juice. If you take beta-blockers like Tenormin o Tekturna, drinking apple or orange juice can decrease your functioning. if you take Allegra, an antihistamine, better to avoid consuming apple, grapefruit or orange juice.
High fiber foods
The consumption of soybean meal, nuts and other foods rich in fiber can affect the effectiveness of the levothyroxine and the digoxin since they affect the absorption of medicines.
Alcohol
The alcohol can make some medicines become less effective or even become inactive. Combining alcohol with medications can cause other side effectssuch as nausea, fainting and loss of coordination, internal bleeding, heart problems, and breathing difficulties.
It is recommended that you consult your doctor about the foods y drinks that it is better not to consume with the consumption of certain medicines and drinks. As general advice, you can have these foods or drinks 4 hours before or after your medicine.
KEEP READING:
(With information from AARP, FDA, NIH)