Food and drugs

Abstract

Food can exert a significant influence on the effects of certain drugs. The interactions between food and drugs can be pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic. Pharmacokinetic interactions most often take place on absorption and drug metabolism levels. Absorption can be either accelerated or delayed, increased or decreased, while drug metabolism can be either stimulated or inhibited. The factors which influence food-drug interactions are as follows: composition and physic-chemical properties of drugs, the interval between a meal and drug intake and food composition. Food consistency is of lesser influence on drug bioavailability than food composition (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, cereals). Important interactions can occur during application of drugs with low therapeutic index, whereby the plasma level significantly varies due to changes in resorption or metabolism (e.g. digoxin, theophyllin, cyclosporin) and drugs such as antibiotics, whose proper therapeutic effect requires precise plasma concentrations.