Never take your tablets with anything other than water.

There are a few things people almost never read, but two in particular stand out: fine print (no matter what) and product brochures. medicines. It’s true that sometimes reading side effects can cause more than one hypochondriacal outbreak. However, at the very least we should check the dosage, contraindications and interactions with foods and other drugs. This way we would know that there are medications that should not be taken with food or drinks. But even for those who can, what we don’t usually think about and what sometimes isn’t even included in the prospectus is that we should just Take the tablets with a glass of water.

In addition to the dosage, the dosage usually tells you how to take the pills. “With plenty of water” or “with a glass of water.” Whether you say it or not, we figure that having a soft drink, juice, or coffee on hand won’t hurt us. In general, this only serves to prevent us from choking on the pill. Or so we think. But the reality is much more difficult.

If we don’t take the pills with a glass of water, we may affect t.decay time. This means that the drug does not have the same effect on us, and therefore the condition or symptom we are going to treat may not go away normally.

Why should we take our pills with just a glass of water?

Although there have been previous studies on the reasons why we should only take the tablets with a glass of water, the most comprehensive study on the subject was conducted in 2021 in Saudi Arabia.

Its authors decided to test the effects of mixing combinations of five drugs and five different drinks. For the first, they selected five over-the-counter drugs in this country: Fevadol, Solpadeine, Relaxon, Artiz and Bufen. The first consists of paracetamol, the second – of paracetamol and codeine, so it is used for colds. As for the second one, it is a muscle relaxant, and the third one is an antihistamine and the last one is just ibuprofen.

Although they are not sold under these names in other countries such as Spain, they are compounds that almost everyone has taken at some point. But did we do it right?

These scientists started mixing them with Coca-Cola, Arabica coffee, buttermilk, orange juice or energy drink.. They also compared the decay time of each when mixed with water at both 5°C and 37°C.

The results demonstrated what was already suspected. The tablets should only be taken with a glass of water. For fevadole, solpadeine and relazone, all decay times increased. significantly compared to water. With ibuprofen, the same thing happened with all drinks except coffee, with which there was almost no difference. Finally, for Artiz, decay time increased for all drinks except energy drink and cola.

Why is that bad?

Disintegration is the complete decomposition of a drug in a liquid medium. This doesn’t just mean the ones you’ll encounter when you go to our digestive tract. The liquid with which the tablet was taken is also taken into account.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that disintegration is the step preceding dissolution medicine in which it can be absorbed and begin to perform its function. Therefore, it is extremely important that it completely disintegrates and does so in a certain time, which is perfectly calculated in pharmaceutical laboratories. But these tests are carried out with water. This does not take into account interaction with other substances.

Therefore, if we do not take the tablets with a glass of water, the disintegration time may be longer than expected and therefore the medicine will not be available in the market. the right time.

A special case of carbonated drinks

Of all the drinks with which we should not take any drugs, the most dangerous, for obvious reasons, are perhaps alcohol and carbonated drinks.

The latter includes soft drinks with bubbles, such as cola. The problem is that they have these bubbles thanks to carbonic acida substance which, as its name suggests, has acidic pH. When they interact with medications, they interfere with their absorption into the body in two different ways. When using some drugs, their absorption increases. That is, a large dose is immediately obtained, so toxicity. However, for others, absorption is reduced, so its beneficial effects are reduced.

Therefore, when taking a medicine, whatever it may be, to stay healthy, it is always better to take the tablets with a glass of water. It does not affect the taste, is easy to swallow and is good for our health. These are all advantages.