Medication is something you take and it's done, a habit of yours. However, drugs are involved in the entire digestive process and can interact with the cigarette you smoke, the juice you drink, or the food you eat. Therefore, it is necessary for you to understand what dietary restrictions apply to the medication you are taking, to prevent reduced effectiveness and even adverse reactions.
1. Cigarettes – Any medication
You should not smoke within 30 minutes of taking any medication. Because nicotine accelerates the liver's breakdown of the drug.
Nicotine lowers blood drug concentration
Dr. Wei Minji of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Peking University says that a large number of studies by medical workers in recent years have proven that smoking not only harms health but also interferes with drug metabolism, reduces drug efficacy, and even delays treatment.
The nicotine in cigarettes, after entering the human body, affects the metabolic enzyme system in the liver, causing the drug metabolism process to speed up or slow down, leading to a decrease in the effective concentration of the drug in the blood, preventing it from exerting its proper effect. Nicotine can release antidiuretic hormone, which prevents metabolic waste from being excreted in time, leading to drug accumulation and poisoning. In addition, smoking excessively depletes the minerals and various essential nutrients needed to synthesize vitamin C, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12, indirectly adversely affecting the drug treatment process.
It is best to quit smoking during medication
Of course, not all medications are significantly affected by smoking. Medical research shows that drugs whose efficacy is significantly affected by smoking include antipyretic and analgesic drugs, anesthetics, anti-asthma drugs, anti-angina drugs, anti-platelet drugs, lipid-lowering drugs, hypoglycemic drugs, diuretics, antacids, gastric mucosal protective drugs, and contraceptives. Common ones include theophylline, caffeine, propranolol, antipyrine, imipramine, phenacetin, pentazocine, propoxyphene, furosemide, etc.
Therefore, Dr. Wei suggests that one should be particularly careful when taking the above medications. First, it is best to quit smoking during the medication period, especially for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, peptic ulcers, lung diseases, allergic diseases, and cancer. Because smoking has the greatest impact on the incidence and efficacy of these diseases. Secondly, be sure not to smoke within 30 minutes after taking the medication. Experiments have confirmed that if a patient smokes within 30 minutes after taking the medication, the blood drug concentration will drop to 1/20 of that of a non-smoker, preventing the drug from working properly.
2. Alcohol, Juice – Aspirin
Aspirin is a common antipyretic and analgesic drug, and one of its main side effects is gastric mucosal damage. If you drink alcohol after taking aspirin, this side effect is often "amplified". This is because: on one hand, drinking alcohol itself can cause gastric mucosal damage, and on the other hand, drinking alcohol can increase gastric acid secretion, aggravating aspirin's damage to the gastric mucosa. In mild cases, it can cause gastric capillary bleeding and positive occult blood in stool, and in severe cases, it can cause massive gastric bleeding. Therefore, when taking aspirin, you must "draw a clear line" with alcohol, and patients with a history of gastric ulcers or gastric bleeding should be especially cautious.
In addition to aspirin, alcohol is also an "enemy" of other antipyretic and analgesic drugs such as paracetamol, aminophenazone, and indomethacin. Alcohol not only reduces the efficacy of drugs like paracetamol, but more seriously, it can cause severe liver and kidney damage, which in severe cases can even be life-threatening. Patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver dysfunction, nephritis, or kidney dysfunction should keep this in mind.
Drinking juice after taking aspirin will exacerbate the irritation of aspirin to the gastric mucosa and also induce gastric bleeding.
3. Milk, Juice – Antibiotics
Do not drink milk or juice within 2 hours before or after taking antibiotics. Because milk reduces the activity of antibiotics, preventing the drug from being fully effective; while the fruit acid rich in juice (especially fresh juice) accelerates the dissolution of antibiotics, not only reducing the efficacy but also possibly generating harmful intermediate products, increasing toxic side effects.
4. Spinach – Calcium tablets
Spinach contains a large amount of potassium oxalate. After entering the human body, the oxalate ions electrolyzed from it will precipitate calcium ions, not only hindering the body's absorption of calcium but also easily forming calcium oxalate stones. Experts recommend not eating spinach within 2 hours before or after taking calcium tablets, or first blanching the spinach to dissolve the potassium oxalate into the water, then discarding the water before eating.
5. Cheese, Meat Products – Antiallergic drugs
While taking antiallergic drugs, avoid foods rich in histamine such as cheese and meat products. Because histamine is converted into histamine in the human body, and antiallergic drugs inhibit the breakdown of histamine, this causes histamine to accumulate in the body, inducing discomfort symptoms such as dizziness, headache, and palpitations.
6. Shrimp – Vitamin C
You cannot eat shrimp within 2 hours before or after taking vitamin C. Because the copper abundant in shrimp will oxidize vitamin C, rendering it ineffective; at the same time, the pentavalent arsenic component in shrimp will react with vitamin C to form toxic "trivalent arsenic".
7. Tea – Berberine
Tea water contains about 10% tannin. Tannin is broken down into tannic acid in the human body, and tannic acid will precipitate the alkaloids in berberine, greatly reducing its efficacy. Therefore, you cannot drink tea within 2 hours before or after taking berberine.
8. Milk – Antidiarrheal drugs
When taking antidiarrheal drugs, you cannot drink milk. Because milk not only reduces the efficacy of antidiarrheal drugs, but its lactose component can also easily aggravate diarrhea symptoms.
9. Sweets – Bitter stomachic
Bitter stomachics rely on their bitter taste to stimulate the secretion of digestive fluids such as saliva and gastric juice to promote appetite and aid digestion. Sweet components, on one hand, cover up the bitter taste and reduce the efficacy, and on the other hand, they also form complex reactions with many components in the stomachic, reducing their effective content.
10. Bananas, Oranges – Diuretics
While taking diuretics, potassium will be retained in the blood. If you also eat potassium-rich bananas and oranges at the same time, the accumulation of potassium in the body becomes more severe, easily inducing complications related to the heart and blood pressure.
11. Coffee, Cola – Ibuprofen
Ibuprofen (Fenbid) is highly irritating to the gastric mucosa. The caffeine in coffee and the cocaine in cola both stimulate gastric acid secretion, so they will exacerbate the toxic side effects of ibuprofen on the gastric mucosa, and may even induce gastric bleeding or perforation.
12. Grapefruit Juice – Antihypertensive drugs
You cannot drink grapefruit juice while taking antihypertensive drugs. Because the naringenin component in grapefruit juice affects the function of a certain enzyme in the liver, and this enzyme is related to the metabolism of antihypertensive drugs, which will cause the drug concentration in the blood to be too high, greatly increasing side effects.
13. Hot water – Multienzyme tablets
Enzymes are the active ingredients in digestive aids like multienzyme tablets. This active protein will coagulate and denature when exposed to hot water, losing its proper digestive effect. Therefore, when taking multienzyme tablets, it is best to take them with cold water.
14. Radish – Tonic Chinese medicine
Tonic Chinese medicine works by replenishing qi, thereby nourishing the whole body's qi, blood, yin, and yang. Radish has the effect of breaking qi, which will greatly weaken the tonic effect. Therefore, avoid eating radish while taking tonic Chinese medicine.