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Why PPI is taken before food ?



PPI are most commonly used drugs for gastritis and prevention of acid formation in stomach. But do you know how it works in your body and why one should take these medicines before food...?

Hi, this is Sumit your online pharmacist... Let's talk about PPIs.

As the name tells these are Proton Pump Inhibitors and the drugs in this class are Omeprazole, Pantoprazole, Esomeprazole, Lansoprazole, Rabeprazole and Dexrabeprazole.
These PPIs acts on the proton pump (biologically known as H+K+ATPase) and inhibit the pump which is responsible for the acid secretion in your stomach.

When it comes to oral administration of the medicine, it is advised to take before food. This is because PPIs need acidic pH to get activated. This sounds funny, to block acidity it needs acid? Yes, that's true.

PPIs work by blocking the proton pump which are present on the inner lining of stomach. These proton pumps start releasing acid when it gets signal either from your brain or when food enters the stomach.
(To more about Proton pumps visit the link http://zzzpharmacist.blogspot.in/2018/05/gastric-proton-pump-how-does-it-works.html )

 As PPIs need an acidic environment to get activated and they must be taken before meals preferably before breakfast and at least 30 mins to 60 mins before so that they can easily bind the proton pump beforehand and block it from releasing acid when food enters the stomach.

Its not that PPIs don't work when taken after meal but studies have shown that the efficiency is highest when they are taken before meals.

So next time you take a PPI mind that you are taking at least 30 mins it before meals.

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