Diet unlikely to affect most patients’ medicines
The risk of interactions between food and medicines is real, but not of great clinical significance for most people, members of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines and the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment decided at a recent meeting of the two organisations.
In a working paper on diet and drug interactions, the committees recommend
that, for patients stabilised on a particular drug, the most appropriate
practical advice is to leave their diet unchanged. They also argue that
there is no need for a widespread public information campaign about food-drug
interactions, but that practitioners and prescribers should be aware
of potential drug-food interactions and should consider them both when
prescribing and when a lack of efficacy, or unexpected toxicity, occurs.
The committees argue that children and the elderly may be more vulnerable
to the effects of drug and food interactions and that the risk of such
interactions may be highest in individuals taking multiple medicines
or medicines with a narrow therapeutic index. However, to assess the
significance of individual reactions, the likely consumption of food
and drugs and the likely severity of any possible reaction need to be
considered. |
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