Can food affect certain drugs?

While drug interactions are the leading pharmacy concern, food and drugs can affect the body

What you should know:
•Anything from grapefruit juice to alcohol can affect medication
•Always be aware of the affects of food and meal time
•Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions

Related Videos:
•Drug and Interactions videos http://www.youtube.com/user/CVSPharmacyVideos#grid/user/8167C0AFFB889C79
•Questions to Ask Your Pharmacist Video http://www.youtube.com/user/CVSPharmacyVideos#grid/user/395739CF2712C87F

Related Health Articles:
•Drug Interactions
Remember those high school chemistry experiments in which you mixed two harmless chemicals and got a bizarre reaction? You may be performing a similar experiment on yourself every time you take two medications at the same time. Certain drugs react strongly when taken with others, often causing serious side effects. In rare cases, drug interactions can even be deadly...Read More: http://bit.ly/aCcQ8k
•Drug-Herb Interactions
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Related Products:
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Medcenter Pill System $69.99 http://bit.ly/ciyp0Z

Transcript
Hi, I'm Greg Collins and I'm a CVS pharmacist.
Although drug-to-drug interactions are the leading pharmacy concern, food can drastically affect the way drugs act in the body, and that's why you should be aware of a few things.
For example, grapefruit juice blocks enzymes that break down certain drugs like calcium channel blockers, leaving higher levels of medication in your blood and possibly increasing your risk for side effects. Alcohol can have various effects on over-the-counter pain relievers. Having three or more alcoholic drinks each day puts you at risk for liver damage if you take acetaminophen. Also, taking aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen with alcohol can lead to peptic ulcers and other stomach problems.
When drugs and certain foods are taken at the same time they can interact in ways that lower the amount of nutrients your body gets from food. For example, the acid-reflux medicine omeprazole can interfere with your body's ability to absorb vitamin B12 from the foods you eat. Make sure to talk to your doctor and CVS pharmacist about all of the drugs in your medicine cabinet, and ask if there are any food combinations or meal timing you should be aware of, to ensure that you'll always be safe. If you have any questions at all, remember, your CVS pharmacist is always here to help.

Source: CVS Caremark Health Resources

Category:

Education

Tags:

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