Have you ever heard that you shouldn't drink milk while you're taking antibiotics? What do you think, is it true?
In this post, I will try to explain to you what happened if you drink milk while you're taking antibiotics. So at first some facts about antibiotics. What kind of drog they are, what is their mechanism of action and what types of antibiotics do we know?
Antibiotics (ATB)
- are live-saving drugs that are produced from microoganisms. They are used in the treatment of bacterial infections. There are many groups of ATB and they differ in the mechanism of their action and their structure. Some of them act by killing the bacteria and other by inhibiting their growth.
Commonly known ATB are:
- Beta - lactam ATB (e.g Penicillin)
- Makrolide ATB (e.g Erythromycin)
- Sulphonamides (e.g Sulphadoxine)
- Fluoroquinolones (e.g ciprofloxacin)
- Tetracykline ATB (e.g doxycycline)
- Aminoglycoside ATB (e.g Streptomycin)
- Lincosamides ATB (e.g lincomycin)
How do antibiotics interact with milk? 🍼 💊
Well, what is the most important to know if you want to understant this interact is the chemical structure and pharmacocinetics of ATB and what substances does milk contain.
Tha main component of milk is Calcium. You know that. Calcium is very important for us to stay strong and healthy. It's essential for our bones.
Here is the structure of ATB - doxycycline:
Source: Wikimedia commons
If we drink milk while we're taking ATB, Calcium binds to this structure and make complex (chelate) which is poorly absorbable in the gastrointestinal tract. Typical side effect of ATB are yellowish stains in the teeth. So if complex of ATB and Calcium wouldn't absorb in our gastrointestinal tract, the ATB can "stay in our body for a longer time" and it can cause yellowish stains on our teeth.
ATBs are excreted in breast milk and that's why pregnant women should avoid using ATBs.