When Foods and Drugs Don't Mix

Even back in 2004, the Center for Disease Control was reporting that about half of all Americans take one prescription drug. Many of these drugs are recommended to be taken with a meal, so that 1) the powerful synthetic chemicals contained in the pills will irritate the stomach lining less and 2) some drugs may be more easily absorbed by "hitching a ride" on the food particles. However, it appears that you may want to be careful WHICH foods you consume.

I recently discovered a very interesting document from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration that I thought worthy of a comment. The booklet (almost a novella), is entitled "Avoid Food-Drug Interactions: A Guide from the National Consumers League and U.S. Food and Drug Administration".

Obviously, we all know that a margarita is a poor choice to wash down that ibuprofen, but did you know that drinking a Coke with your asthma medication could severely increase your heart beat? Or that eating bananas if you're on heart medications could cause an irregular heartbeat? If you currently take a prescription drug, it will certainly be worth your while to investigate the booklet to see if there are potential problems with your diet and/or drug intake.

As a licensed chiropractic physician in Peoria, Illinois, Dr. Johnson does not have the legal right (nor the desire) to prescribe prescription drugs. Nor should an Illinois chiropractor dispense advice about which drugs to take, how often, etc. Such prescriptions are outside the chiropractic physician's scope of practice, and all pharmaceutical questions should naturally be directed to a medical physician or a pharmacist. This blog post is intended for informational purposes only.