An interesting new study conducted at John’s Hopkins on the dynamics of swallowing pills produced a surprise finding.
Since I take a lot of supplements, this information caught my eye.
How did the scientists make their discovery on the best way to take pills?
They used a computerized model of a 34-year-old human male called "StomachSim" to explore what happens when pills are swallowed.
A number of well-known factors affect a pill's ability to breakdown and disperse its content in the gastrointestinal tract such as is the stomach full of food or empty, pH, and the motion of the stomach and intestinal muscles.
What the John’s Hopkins found was something else was responsible for more than 80% of a pill’s ability to breakdown.
Through computer analysis, they found that body position was the biggest factor determining how quickly a pill breaks down. In fact, body position accounts for more than 80% of how fast a pill breaks down.
They looked at what happens to pills when people are standing or sitting upright, or laying down on their back, left side, or right side.
Because of anatomy and gravity, body position will change where the pill sits until it disperses. The worst position for pill dispersion was lying on your left side. Standing or sitting upright or lying on your back or right side all resulted in much better dispersion than lying on the left side.
So, here is the takeaway. Avoid lying on your left side after taking a pill, especially if taking a lot of pills are taking something that is known to be irritating or poorly dispersed.
Now, another caveat, avoid lying down for at least an hour after taking pills or having a meal. That is especially true if you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Lying down on a full stomach increases the risk for reflux.
Simple and common-sense advice, but still important to consider.
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