Mr Calcium's Revenge: When Your Food Sabotages Your Meds

  Ever wondered why milk is contraindicated in tetracycline antibiotics? And how you might just be potentiating it's effects even if not consuming milk while on antibiotics??

 

Complex right? Let’s break it down

 

Here's the backdrop👇

Sometime about a month ago, I had loose green stool, always felt nauseated🤢, and most times I'd throw up🤮. I wasn't pregnant🙄, so I knew something was up and I was skeptical about just taking antibiotics.

(For those of you that any small thing you've started antibiotics treatment that we’re both 98% sure you won't complete😒....one day thy matter shall be addressed!).

Anyways, I got to the school clinic, ran a stool culture and was diagnosed with food poisoning😱. The physician handed me the prescription to take to the pharmacy. On getting there, I was given three antibiotics💊💊💊 (guess it was more serious than I thought🤷‍♀️🤧).

The pharmacist🧑‍⚕, on explaining how to take them, advised not to take doxycycline with milk🥛. Curious me🙃, I checked it up when I got home. Turns out that it's actually Mr. Calcium🦷😎 in the milk that's the issue.

All this long story for Mr. Calcium🤦‍♀️. He apparently forms chelates with doxycycline and any other tetracycline class antibiotic. This reduces their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract making them ineffective. 

With this info, I noted lapses in the pharmacist's instruction🌝. Though I understood that he was trying to simplify the dosage information and requirements by instructing not to take it with milk, there are however many other foods, such as leafy green vegetables🥦, fortified foods, juice🧃, cereals🥣, fish🦈, nuts and seeds🥜, beans🫘 and even our popular okra🫛and spinach, that contain calcium and same thing will happen if taken with these meals.

So imagine me taking the medication just after eating one or a combination of the above🫢. I might not have taken milk but work-done by the antibiotic is also equal to zero😥.

Following a discussion I had with one of my lecturers on this issue, we devised a better approach towards avoiding Mr. Calcium's interaction with our antibiotics without avoiding foods we love that are fortified with or contain it (Mr. Calcium of course!😎) and without mistakenly consuming it - especially those of us that love cereals and fruit juices🤗.

When taking your antibiotics (tetracyclines in this case), take it an hour before or after eating⏳ just to avoid Mr. Calcium and his clingy nature with tetracyclines - can't say what's up with him🙄😐. Don’t be scared😇, the antibiotic’s bioavailability isn't affected in the absence of food💫.

*You're welcome as always❤*

Don't misquote me❗

*Mr. Calcium is a good guy in the body but we just don't need him now🥲*