Take with Food,Take on an Empty Stomach, Do Not Take with Dairy
What’s Behind Food Medication Warning Labels?

Adherence is more than just taking the correct daily dosage. Food acts as a tool for some medications to be absorbed at the correct rate. The presence or absence of food in a patient’s stomach often affects the rate of the medication’s absorption. How fast the medication is metabolized by the body can have beneficial outcomes or detrimental consequences.

•  Food can block the body’s ability to absorb certain medications, effectively reducing the dose a person receives. In this instance, the drug has a decreased effectiveness.

• Foods can sometimes enhance the absorption of drugs, which can lead to a possible overdose and other times increase the absorption, which is critical.

• Some medications must not be taken with dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Dairy products contain large amounts of calcium, which can react with some medications and prevent them from being absorbed into the body.

• Grapefruit/grapefruit products and citrus fruits contain certain chemicals that can interfere with the enzymes that break down various medications. This may lead to potentially dangerous levels of medication, causing serious side effects.

With technological advances in automated prescription labels, the use of separate, brightly colored warning labels on medication vials has decreased.  Information about food intake and other warnings has been incorporated into the primary prescription label and now less obvious to many patients, particularly elderly patients.  

Always advise your patients to follow all of their medication instructions and to consult with their physician and their Avella pharmacist about taking their medication(s) correctly to receive its maximum benefit.
 
Want to learn more about medication and food?   Contact our pharmacy team today.