10th March, 2013
A Nigerian pharmacist, Mr Busayo Idowu of the Department of Pharmacy, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), warned Nigerians on Saturday that taking drugs with beverages such as soda or soft drinks could have adverse effects.
Idowu said that drugs taken with soft drinks might affect the absorption of the drugs.
According to him, most soda drinks were acidic, which could decrease the anti bacterial action of tetracycline as they contain carbonates.
The absorption of some drugs such as aspirin, ketoconazole and phenytoin could be affected also when taking with acidic beverage, he added.
“Acidic beverages delay the absorption rate and action of Erythromycin”, he emphasised.
He advised that drugs should preferably be used with water as it had the properties capable of eliminating unwanted effects.