Is it true that you can't take milk using drugs?

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Taking medicine has its own rules. You may be used to taking medication using water, but what if you take medicine using tea or milk? Are there any side effects?

Take medicine with tea

Taking drugs using tea, especially green tea, can cause some side effects, this is because some ingredients in tea can inhibit absorption and work of the drug. One of them is caffeine. Caffeine is a component that can stimulate heart rate and increase blood pressure even though it is only temporary. Besides caffeine, tannins in tea can also significantly reduce the absorption of iron in supplements or food.

Some types of drugs that interact negatively with green tea include:

Adenosine: contained in antiarrhythmic drugs. This drug is usually given to patients who experience heartbeat instability. Green tea can inhibit the work of adenosine, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the drug's work.
Benzodiazepines: caffeine contained in tea can cause a reduced sedative effect of benzodiazepines. This component is commonly found in drugs used to treat excessive anxiety such as diazepam.
High blood pressure medication: Caffeine content in tea can increase blood pressure in those who take drugs containing beta blockers, propranolol, and metoprolol. This type of drug is commonly used to treat high blood pressure and diseases related to the heart.
Blood thinning drugs and aspirin: Vitamin K content in green tea can reduce the effectiveness of blood thinners. And if you mix aspirin with green tea, the reaction will make the blood difficult to freeze, increasing your chances of bleeding.
Chemotherapy drugs: A study suggests that consumption of green tea and black tea can stimulate genes that play a role in prostate cancer so that chemotherapy treatment for this disease will be less efficient.
Oral contraceptive drugs (birth control pills): if taken along with oral contraceptives, the stimulant effect of caffeine in the body can last longer than it should.
Other types of drugs that should not be taken using tea are a type of stimulant medication, such as asthma drugs and hunger medications.

Take medicine with milk

You may often hear advice not to take drugs using milk. This is not entirely wrong, but it is also not entirely true. Drugs, especially types of antibiotics taken orally, can only work effectively if the components in the drug can be absorbed by the body. The drugs consumed will be processed in the digestive system and then circulated through the bloodstream to the affected area of the body.

There are several things that affect how the drug is absorbed by the body, including acidity in the stomach and the presence or absence of nutrients such as fat or calcium in the stomach. Some types of antibiotics contain tetracycline which will react with calcium in milk. Calcium will bind to the components contained in the drug thus inhibiting the absorption of drugs by the body.

But there are also types of drugs that can be taken along with milk or other foods. It aims to protect the stomach from the medicinal properties that might irritate the stomach lining.

Before deciding to take the drug, you can ask your doctor or health worker what you should take the medicine, if there are side effects if taken together with other foods or drinks. But if there are no specific rules, it's a good idea to consume drugs using water only, because in water there is no content that can inhibit the absorption of drugs by the body.

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