With the rise of Internet science, many people have more and more understanding of health science, which is more and more convenient. We often recommend that people eat after meals for some drugs with relatively large digestive tract stimulation, so that under the protection of food, we can avoid the stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract by drugs, but not all drugs are like this. When I consulted on medication, I often encountered people asking whether the drug aspirin was eaten before or after meals. Some people think that aspirin is easy to cause gastrointestinal bleeding, the stomach is irritating, and food does not affect its absorption, should be eaten after meals, and some doctors recommend that patients eat before meals is better, in the end the answer should be what?
Should aspirin be eaten before or after meals?
Aspirin is a non-steroidal drug that we are very familiar with, with antipyretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet aggregation effect, so it is widely used, especially for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, adhere to the standard of taking aspirin, can prevent thrombosis, thereby effectively reducing the probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction. Its main side effects are adverse reactions to the gastrointestinal tract, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, etc., and may even cause stomach ulcers or gastrointestinal bleeding due to long-term or large doses. It seems that it is better to eat after meals, but in fact, aspirin is different because of different dosage forms, the optimal time to take is also different.
1) Ordinary tablets: eat after meals
Because aspirin is acidic, for ordinary tablets of aspirin if taken on an empty stomach, the stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract is relatively large, because it can directly damage the gastrointestinal mucosa, and because it affects the role of cyclooxygenase, it affects the repair of the gastrointestinal mucosa while antiplatelets. Therefore, ordinary tablets taken after meals can reduce the stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract.
2) Enteric-coated tablets: it is better to eat before meals
With the development of pharmacy, scientists have developed enteric-coated preparations, in which the drug of aspirin is wrapped in a layer of polymer enteric-coated membrane, which can fight stomach acid, so that the tablets are not dissolved in the stomach, and after the intestinal tract is dissolved due to changes in acid and alkali, it is then absorbed by the intestine, avoiding the stimulation of the stomach by aspirin. However, this membrane has a characteristic of being acid resistant but dissolving in neutral or alkaline solutions. Therefore, if we eat after meals, it will lead to acid and alkalinity changes in the stomach caused by digesting food, which may make the environment in the stomach become neutral, so that the enteric-coated membrane is destroyed, so that the drug is released into the stomach and stimulates the stomach. Therefore, for enteric-coated preparations, eating before meals is more stomach-friendly.
epilogue
Aspirin to eat before meals or after meals, in fact, overall, the impact on the efficacy is not too large, if not according to the above time point to eat, there is no need to worry too much, just to reduce gastrointestinal irritation, it is best to take ordinary tablets after meals, enteric-coated tablets before meals. And it should be noted that friends who take aspirin regularly should also remember to check the blood routine and coagulation function regularly, and if there is a suspicious abnormality such as bleeding gums and melena, it is necessary to see a specialist in time to rule out the possible side effects of the drug.
bibliography:
Feng Yan. Clinical analysis and prevention of gastrointestinal injury caused by aspirin and clopidogrel[J]. World's Latest Medical Information Digest, 2015, 11: 87-88.
Wang Yan,Gao Feng,Liu Xinjuan,Zhang Xiaoyun,Li Ning,Gao Yingxin,Hao Jianyu. Value of magnetron capsule endoscopy in risk assessment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in elderly patients taking enteric-coated aspirin[J]. Chinese Journal of Digestive Endoscopy,2021,07:565-568.
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