Why do we need food in thr stomach for some medicines, and based on this, is there a “best food” to have before taking medicine?

Question

Why do we need food in thr stomach for some medicines, and based on this, is there a “best food” to have before taking medicine?

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Answer 1

Source : I’m a pharmacist

They can be a BUNCH of reasons so i’ll try and list the most common without making this too long.

Médecines are made of two parts : an active molecules (drug) and a galenic vector (tablet, liquid, cream, you name it)
Now when you take a medecin in any form, your body will absorb it.
According to the kind of drug, they can be different paths to absorb the drug, and differents mecanisms in your body can be activated upon absorbtion.

First, to absorb a molecule, your body has various paths : for greasy molecules (oils), water affined ones, sugars, ions etc…
Active drugs might need to piggy back on one of these paths, and to increase you drug uptake, having a full stomach (oily drugs will piggy back on cholesterol absorbtion path for exemple) or an empty one (some drugs will compete with food for a specific pathway, and so eating at the same time will reduce absorption) can help.

Then, some drugs might be prodrugs. Imagine a car without wheels, that will need wheels added to be “active”. That’s the case with codein for exemple. Usually, your liver will transform them (not always but let’s stay simple). Well some foods can increase or decrease your liver’s speed of transformation, and change your uptake. The most well known is grapefruit juice. So then it’s not only weather you’ve eaten or not but what you ate.

Lastly, as I saw in another comment, some drugs can trigger your stomach’s acid secretions, and are then better taken with food to avoid stomach’s Burns (ulcers). That’s after they have been absorbed

Drugs behavior and absorbtion might also change according to the galenic form, so there is no “perfect drug meal”, noe is there a perfect time of day (better to take the pill in the evening, but propranolol can give you nightmares so better in the morning…) ask your pharmacist or physician or read the instructions for each medication you take 🙂

Hope this was clear !