OT Diet coke vs vitamins/prescriptions

I always read the enclosures with any meds- RX or over the counter. I've never seen any mention of carbonated drinks, diet drinks, etc. I am aware of not mixing any antacid or grapefruit or it's juice. But that's about all I've seen with 'do not mix together' things.

Thanks for your reply!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

My doc told me (less than three years ago) that things like coke ("and other such drink, that we should not normally drink") makes the medication absorb _faster_ that taking them with water. Okay, we were talking a swig, but so are you. Now, this was about pain medication, not vitamins, but it was based on advice from the leading headache experts in the UK :-) There was no discussion about diet or not, though.

I had a quick look online, and found nothing on this (other than the usual "don't drink (diet) soda"), here is _a_ list of interactions:

Personally, I prefer Diet Coke :-)

Hanne in DK

Very informative, Hanne.

Thanks for the link, I discovered some info that will be useful.

G> On Aug 2, 5:29=A0pm, "Leslie& The Furbabies in MO."

Leslie,

I don't pretend to be an expert, but I've never heard that. The only thing I've heard is that a person shouldn't take their meds with calcium supplements because the calcium can prevent proper absorption.

Michelle in Nevada, USA and fellow diet cherry coke drinker. :-)

Oopsie! I am guilty of the calcium conflict! I'll have to time them more carefully. Thanks!

Leslie & The Furbabies >> This ng has an amazing amount of knowledge available and I haven't been

The caffeine in the diet coke dilates blood vessels, so will likely result in faster absorption, many headache and cold/flu tablets have caffeine in them for this reason.

If you are still uncertain, you could try searching for the specific artificial sweetners and drug interactions.

Cheers Anne

Thanks, Anne. I hadn't thought of a search using those words.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Okay. You got me there too. I've been taking calcium with my bp med. I can toss it down some other time Recently, I had to take an antibiotic - Cipro - and that stuff is a heap of trouble to take. 2 hours before this, 6 hours after that, not with dairy, okay with food. Mercy. Coordinating fireworks with the 1812 Overture would have been easy compared to that. Polly

Agreed, Cipro does wonders but is a pain on when to take it. Speaking of recent experience.

Steven Alaska

if it contains aspartame or nutra sweet, same thing different names, there is some effect on the mix of meds with diet coke. it is not a natural sweetener but artificial. i'd much prefer drinking sugar than the artificial stuff, even with all those calories.

just one website with info about it.heath ledger was taking some kind of meds and drank lots of diet cokeapparently and look where it got him.as soon as the food/drink companys start using steveia, a natural sweetener, the better i reckon. i read stevia has been approved by the FDA as GRAS(generally recommended as safe). stevia is also calorie free. iirc, it was the sugar growers who lobbied against using stevia. stevia is sweeter than sugar so less is needed to do its job so the growers make less money out of it.

sorry, that reply is not well written but i'm sure you can search and read up on that anyhow. brain in yet in gear this am. j.

"Leslie& The Furbabies in MO." wrote... This ng has an amazing amount of knowledge available and I haven't been successful in my internet searches for an answer, so I come to y'all- once again- for answers.

A friend told me that any prescription medicines or vitamins that I take with a swig of my much-loved Diet Cherry Coke are a waste. She claims the Coke will cause my body to not absorb them or the Coke will 'destroy or breakdown the meds/vitamins or some such. I really didn't pay much attention since I didn't want to hear that stuff. (She lectures me on the dangers of any diet drink.) Does anybody know if this has any truth to it or not? Or any ideas on what or how I can search to find out for certain?

And, please, no lectures on drinking Diet Cherry Coke- it's one of the small pleasures I have left. ;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I'm not an expert, Leslie, but that just sounds bogus to me. I drink a lot of Coke (not diet)...my doc knows this as I have joked that it's the only vice I have left. I take a lot of meds, and he's never mentioned any kind of interaction. (and I'm the last person on earth who's going to lecture you! :-)

Sherry

I hope this isn't a totally discouraging interjection, but I have to mention something I've learned about ALL sodas that contain phosphoric acids or some form... Phosphoric acid combines in the digestive system with any calcium it finds, and binds tightly to it, making the calcium unavailable to the body. Since calcium is needed in many important functions, when there is no calcium in the diet, the body gets the needed calcium from its storehouse of the mineral -- the bones.

Bones are constantly being built up and torn down by cells called osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The former store calcium in the bones, and the latter mine the bones for calcium when it is needed elsewhere.

The other bummer is that caffeine steals calcium too.

Having been diagnosed with osteopenia of the spine (pre-osteoporosis) I've given up sodas with p. acid. I've only managed to reduce my coffee intake. Just a head's up - since bone density is a BIG DEAL for all women esp.

Musicmaker

The cross country track coach at our local high school strongly encourages (mandates) his athletes give up soda pop for those reasons. Don't forget to take your Vitamin D as well as your calcium.

Clear sodas and root beer don't. Not sure if what they have is bad too but they are different than colas. I keep unsweetened de-caf iced tea around and almost everyone can drink that. I hate dealing with the recycling of cans and bottles. Taria

And to have moderate exposure to the sun, not sunbathing but just gentle exposure, Vitamin D is made through the skin. Also enough Magnesium in the diet, Remember those leafy green veg Marion in Nitten

They don't contain caffeine...but I would guess they still have the phosphoric acids...I think that's part of the fizz of soda.

Everyone should have their vit D level checked. Mine was low and I took a mega dose to boost it back to normal and now take a suppliment (1000mg) every day.