{"id":17803,"date":"2021-12-03T16:43:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T21:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=17803"},"modified":"2021-12-03T16:44:20","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T21:44:20","slug":"six-foods-you-shouldnt-mix-with-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2021\/12\/03\/six-foods-you-shouldnt-mix-with-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Six foods you shouldn\u2019t mix with medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve ever taken the wrong medication on an empty stomach, you know the importance of reading the outside of your pill bottle. It\u2019s not uncommon for the pharmacy to warn you to take certain drugs with food. But did you know that what you eat can also affect your medication? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Six common food-drug interactions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food and drug interactions can make your prescription less effective and cause dangerous side effects. Here are a few common culprits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Grapefruit juice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you on a prescription statin, like Lipitor<\/a> or Zocor<\/a>? Then you might want to lay off the grapefruit juice. Compounds from the fruit (called furanocoumarins) can actually prevent an enzyme in your intestines from breaking down the medicine. This can lead to a higher concentration of the drug in the body and potentially result in a toxic reaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if you aren\u2019t on a statin, you might want to beware of grapefruit-drug interactions. \u201cWhat people don\u2019t realize is that it can interact with a large number of drugs, not just statins,\u201d says Morton Tavel, MD, author of Health Tips, Myths and Tricks: A Physician\u2019s Advice<\/a>. \u201cAnyone taking virtually any medication should avoid grapefruit juice entirely.\u201d This includes over-the-counter antihistamines and even birth control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Dairy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re on a course of antibiotics, don\u2019t wash your pills down with a glass of milk. Dairy can make certain antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin<\/a>, levofloxacin<\/a>, and doxycycline<\/a>, less effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have milk products in your stomach, those drugs become a lot less bioavailable,\u201d says Len Horovitz<\/a>, MD, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People on monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) should also cut back on strong, aged cheeses such as Parmesan and Camembert. These cheeses have high levels of tyramine, an amino acid that helps keep your blood pressure in check. High levels of tyramine are associated with migraine headaches and blood pressure spikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMAOIs block the enzyme responsible for breaking down tyramine, which can cause it to build up and raise your blood pressure,\u201d Dr. Tavel says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Bananas and other potassium-rich foods<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A high concentration of potassium<\/a> makes bananas healthy for most of us. But you could end up with too much potassium if you eat a bunch of bananas while taking an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, like lisinopril<\/a> or captopril<\/a>. These medications can cause the body to retain excess potassium that would otherwise be flushed out by the kidneys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPotassium is a great mineral and necessary in our diets, but under certain circumstances it can lead to trouble,\u201d Dr. Tavel says. \u201cAn excessive build-up of potassium can lead to significant problems with your heart rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While bananas are the best-known food for potassium, they\u2019re far from the only food with an abundance of the mineral. Limit your intake of sweet potatoes, mushrooms, potatoes and other high-potassium foods when taking ACE inhibitors. Additionally, salt substitutes<\/a> often replace sodium with potassium chloride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Black licorice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black licorice is a polarizing candy. If you happen to love it, you might need to switch to red Twizzlers if your doctor writes you a prescription for digoxin<\/a>, Dr. Tavel advises. Black licorice contains a compound called glycyrrhizin, which can cause a toxic effect from digoxin<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even if you stop taking the medication, you might consider giving up black licorice for good. The FDA warns that just two ounces of black licorice<\/a> a day for two weeks can give people 40 years or older an irregular heartbeat, requiring hospitalization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Green leafy vegetables<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, and Brussels sprouts all contain a high amount of vitamin K. Vitamin K plays a key role in helping blood to clot, thus preventing excessive bleeding. However, it actually counteracts a common blood thinner called Coumadin<\/a> (also known by its generic name, warfarin<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are prescribed warfarin, your doctor will recommend that you don\u2019t drastically alter your intake of foods high in vitamin K. Eating more green leafy vegetables than you normally do can decrease the effects of warfarin and increase the risk of adverse events like heart attack and stroke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Alcohol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcohol can be harmful if taken with many medications. Mixing alcohol with medications<\/a> can lead to intensified side effects such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, fainting, or loss of coordination. Alcohol has also been known to make medications less effective or possibly toxic to the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinking alcohol with anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines can cause increased drowsiness or dizziness. The combination of alcohol and opioid painkillers has a similar effect and can even lead to a fatal overdose. Overall, it\u2019s best to avoid alcohol use with certain medications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These foods are simply six of hundreds of potential food-drug interactions. Ask your pharmacist about foods you should avoid next time you pick up your prescription.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever taken the wrong medication on an empty stomach, you know the importance of reading the outside of your pill bottle. It\u2019s not uncommon for the pharmacy to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[1872],"class_list":["post-17803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-six-foods-you-shouldnt-mix-with-medicine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}