Various foods that can interfere with the work of the drug in the body: function, dosage, side effects, how to use it

Are you currently taking any drugs? If so, then there are a number of things that must be considered in order to support the successful effect of the drugs you are taking. In addition to paying attention to doctor's recommendations regarding the schedule for taking your medication, what you should know is about drug interactions with the food you consume at the same time.

Many things can be discussed when talking about drug interactions with nutrients. These interactions can form in two directions, namely the drugs you consume affect the absorption of nutrients, and conversely, the nutrients you get from food can inhibit or accelerate the action of drugs, even cause side effects due to interacting with drugs.

Just like food, medicines are also mostly consumed by mouth, must be digested through the digestive system and absorbed in the small intestine. Therefore, food and drugs often cause interactions that have an impact on the absorption of both drugs and food.

Foods that most often cause drug interactions

Grapefruit, or grapefruit red, is one food that has the ability to affect the action of a drug quite a lot. This type of make can increase the effectiveness of some drugs and reduce the absorption of other drugs, such as drugs to lower cholesterol levels. Therefore, if you have high cholesterol and then take the drugs, you better not eat grapefruit first because it affects the work of these drugs.

Grapefruit can also cause the metabolism of drugs to be disturbed, so that it can decrease or increase the levels of drugs in the blood. Many drugs interact with grapefruit and cause this to happen, such as antihistamines, high blood pressure medications, medications for thyroid disease, birth control pills, ulcer medications, and cold and cough medicines. Therefore, you should avoid grapefruit first if you are taking drugs.

This happens because grapefruit contains substances called furanocoumarins which work to block the action of these drugs. Thus, the unfavorable interactions occur between the grapes and the aforementioned drugs.

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Various drug-food interactions that may occur

1. Warfarin, a blood thinner

Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, mustard greens, broccoli or kale can actually affect the absorption of blood thinners or warfarin and coumadin. The way blood thinners work is by reducing the amount of vitamin K in the body which functions as a blood clotting factor. However, green leafy vegetables are one of the main sources of vitamin K, so if you eat too many green leafy vegetables, they will increase vitamin K and inhibit medicines to thin the blood.

Even so, don't worry because this condition will only occur if the time for consumption is close and too many green leafy vegetables are consumed.

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2. Antidepressants

Drugs to treat depression work by normalizing neurotransmitters that are disturbed when under great pressure. These neurotransmitters are monoamine oxiase inhibitors (MAOIs) which act as signal carriers between nerve cells and regulate a person's mood.

Antidepressant drugs are known to have interactions with foods containing tyramine, namely drinks grapefruit, yogurt, bananas as well as several types of processed food. If the interaction occurs between antidepressants and the drugs that have been mentioned, there is a risk of causing high blood pressure.

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3. Antibiotics

Antibiotics are the drugs most often consumed by most people. And with a variety of ways of giving, namely by injection or through pills / capsules that can be drunk directly. But it should be noted that it turns out that foods containing high iron, calcium, and magnesium can inhibit the action of antibiotics.

Several studies have proven that milk can decrease the work of antibiotics in the body, for example, antibiotics of the type ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. Tetracycline can be taken one hour before or two hours after meals, and should not be accompanied by drinking milk. Iron and calcium contained in milk can bind to antibiotic drugs which hinders absorption of the drug.

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4. Analgesic drugs

This type of drug is a painkiller, so it is often used to relieve various aches and fevers. One example of the most commonly used pain relievers is acetaminophen. In some research it is stated that acetaminophen must be consumed before eating because the food in the stomach can inhibit the effectiveness of this drug. However, for other types of drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, and other painkillers must be taken after eating, because they can cause irritation of the stomach wall.