How do “take with a meal” pills get absorbed into our body properly if there is a large amount of food in our stomach?
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Don’t worry about that. It’s mainly to comfort *you*. It won’t absorb well at all if you barf it up
Your body is going to absorb all of that food, too. The meal and the pill will traverse the digestive tract, nutrients (and medications) are absorbed during that process.
Medicines, vitamins and other chemicals are generally either water soluble or fat soluble. Water soluble chemicals can be absorbed directly into your bloodstream and don’t need to be taken with food. But fat-soluble chemicals won’t dissolve in water, and thus need some fat in your stomach. Generally when a pill is suggested to take “with food” or “with a meal”, it’s because it’s fat-soluble and almost all food has at least some fat/oil/lipids in it, so they don’t bother to specify what kind of food.
Why do you think they shouldn’t? Your body absorbs all the food, too, even though there’s a large amount of food in your stomach.
It also helps moderate the uptake rate so your system doesn’t get overwhelmed with a spike of drug absorbed all at once on an empty stomach. This is important with blood pressure medication so you don’t faint. It’s the same idea with alcohol.
In the case of some drugs like fenofibrate, you want to take it when your liver is actively digesting food because that’s when the drug works best.
i mean you wouldt think the food wouldn’t get absorbet because you ate a lot?
Both these answers are here, but to collect them:
1. The stuff dissolves better in fat than it does in water. Most meals have fat in them, so this helps the drug dissolve and be absorbed rather than passing on through.
2. Some drugs are irritating to the stomach and it helps to dilute them out with a bunch of other stuff to cushion the impact.
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