Painkillers: A study reveals why you shouldn't consume these fours drinks while taking them

You probably know it’s a bad idea to take most painkillers with alcohol. But, many of us assume that there’s nothing wrong with chucking down an aspirin or paracetamol with any beverage. A new study has found that taking painkillers with certain drinks could impact the efficacy of the drugs. Below are four drinks to avoid drinking with your pills, according to the research findings published in the Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal.

Too much caffeine in energy drinks

Doctors advise against consuming too much energy drinks due to the high concentration of caffeine in them. Now, we are learning that having a glass of energy drink along with your painkiller could speed up the time that the drug is supposed to breakdown. This means, you may not feel the impact of the medication because it dissolves faster than it was intended to.

Just two cups of coffee have an impact

The researchers analysed two hot cups of coffee at 41C and 100C to determine how they affect the disintegration of painkillers in the system. They found that hot coffee, with its caffeine content, causes the chemicals in the drugs to break down faster when they enter the body.

Soda

For this research, the scientists tested different drugs with different drinks to ascertain the reaction between them. They found that Coca-Cola had an adverse impact of the disintegration of all the drugs tested except for one, which is taken for the treatment of allergy symptoms.

Orange Juice

Being a popular drink at breakfast, there’s the temptation to wash down your medicine with a sip of orange juice. But the study advises against that, as this beverage also shortens the time the body takes to properly absorb the drugs. So, although you need that shot of vitamin C, you might want to wait awhile after taking your medication to have it.

The study concluded:

Patients should be advised to avoid consuming beverages other than water with therapeutic products. Increasing public awareness of drug-beverage interactions is needed.

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Sources:

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal: Investigation of the effects of different beverages on the disintegration time of over-the-counter medications in Saudi Arabia