Taking a pill with coffee can be part of our morning routine, but the truth is that it slows down the speed of action. According to science, having a coffee with medication can limit the effectiveness of many medications.
So it’s a good idea to allow time between drinking coffee and taking some medications, to avoid adverse interactions between the two.
Although various health organizations have deemed it safe to drink up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, coffee may also significantly affect the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of many medicines. What that means is that experts suggest people space out medication and coffee, because mixing the two could lead to several different outcomes, including better therapeutic response, therapeutic failure, or toxic reactions.
Interferes with drug absorption
If we are still wondering how a cup of coffee affects the pills, below we will find some examples and their effects on each one. Drug absorption is the movement of a drug into the bloodstream after taking it. It affects bioavailability, or how quickly and how well the pill gets to the required area.
- Antidepressant (escitalopram oxalate): Decreases absorption
- Iron and iron-containing medications: Decrease absorption
- Anxiolytic: Decreases absorption
- Phenothiazines and butyrophenone: Decrease absorption
- Aspirin and felodipine: increase absorption
- Halofantrine: increases absorption
- Ergotamine and levodopa: increase absorption
- Thyroxine (T4): Decreases absorption
- Vitamin D and calcium: Decrease absorption
- Glucose: Decreases absorption
- Memantine and donepezil: Decrease the distribution
- Levodopa: increase distribution
- Paracetamol: Improves metabolism
- Minerals (calcium, magnesium, sodium, etc.): Increase excretion
Water: the best option
Although there may be a coffee or soft drink nearby, or a glass of fresh orange juice at breakfast, scientists have tested various beverages and found that certain liquids can increase drug disintegration times, which can change the purpose of the drug. medication and how it interacts with the body.
Orange juice affects the timed release of drugs like acetaminophen, while hot beverages like coffee can also change the disintegration time of a drug. Coffee consumed with caffeine reduces the effects of several medications. It begins to affect most people between 90 and 120 minutes after drinking it. Therefore, it is recommended to consume coffee at least three hours before or after consuming any medication, as this allows for better digestion and absorption.
There are some medications that should not be taken with milk, and the doctor should be able to advise us if this is the case with the ones we are taking; it’s all a matter of milk interfering (mainly delaying) the absorption of the drug in the intestine. Therefore, you should always drink water with the pills.
