Medicines that need food

Two different reasons, one instruction

Some medicines are taken with food to protect you: anti-inflammatories such as Ibuprofen, Diclofenac and Aceclofenac irritate the stomach lining directly, and Metformin causes nausea and loose motions on an empty stomach that usually disappear when it is taken mid-meal. Others need food to be absorbed at all — Itraconazole, Isotretinoin and fat-soluble vitamins like D and E need dietary fat present to cross the gut wall.

The everyday list

Anti-inflammatory painkillers, Metformin, steroids such as Prednisolone and Methylprednisolone, iron salts where they upset the stomach, Itraconazole, Isotretinoin, Vitamin D and E preparations, and many antibiotics including Amoxicillin with Clavulanate and Doxycycline, which are gentler taken with a meal even though food slightly reduces absorption.

With food, after food, or just not empty

The three phrases are used loosely in prescriptions. Broadly, with food means during the meal, after food means within about half an hour of finishing, and neither means an hour later. If tolerance is the reason for the instruction, timing it around the meal is what matters. If absorption is the reason, being with the meal matters more precisely.

Anchor doses to meals, not to the clock

This is the practical advantage of a chart. Set your hours to when your household actually eats rather than to round numbers, and the medicine attaches itself to something that already happens. A dose at nine when breakfast is at half past eight survives far better than a dose at eight when nobody is awake.

How to make one

1. Add the medicine and choose With or After food
2. Set the hours to your actual meal times
3. Print the chart for the kitchen

Questions

A note on safety. PillsChart reproduces the schedule you type. It does not check doses or interactions. Always follow the instructions from your doctor or pharmacist, and check the printed chart against the prescription before anyone relies on it.

More chart guides