Food and medication
Dairy and calcium and medication
Calcium can bind to some medicines in the gut so less is absorbed. Usually the fix is timing: keep them a few hours apart.
3 medicines on our checker are affected, and for 2 the advice is to avoid it. Tap a medicine for every food and drink that matters with it.
Avoid dairy and calcium with these medicines
- Iron supplements · ferrous sulphate, ferrous fumarate, ferrous gluconate
Do not take iron at the same time as dairy or calcium: leave about 2 hours either side.
- Tetracycline antibiotics · doxycycline, lymecycline, tetracycline
Do not take the antibiotic at the same time as dairy or calcium: leave 2 to 3 hours either side.
Take care dairy and calcium with these medicines
- Levothyroxine · thyroxine, synthroid, eltroxin
Calcium binds levothyroxine. Keep dairy and calcium 4 hours from your dose.
Foods and drinks that count as dairy and calcium
- Milk
- Cheese
- Yoghurt
- Cream
- Kefir
- Ice cream
- Milkshake
- Custard
- Fromage frais
- Rice pudding
- Lassi
- Milky coffee
- Fortified plant milk
- Calcium-set tofu
- Fortified orange juice
- Fortified breakfast cereal
- Sardines
- Tinned salmon
- Calcium supplements
- Buttermilk
- Evaporated milk
- Condensed milk
- Soft cheese
- Paneer
- Hot chocolate
- Porridge made with milk
- Cheese sauce
- Frozen yoghurt
Common questions
- Which medicines does dairy and calcium affect?
- 3 medicines on our checker: Iron supplements (avoid), Tetracycline antibiotics (avoid), Levothyroxine (take care).
- Which foods count as dairy and calcium?
- Milk, Cheese, Yoghurt, Cream, Kefir, Ice cream, Milkshake, Custard, Fromage frais, Rice pudding, Lassi, Milky coffee, Fortified plant milk, Calcium-set tofu, Fortified orange juice, Fortified breakfast cereal, Sardines, Tinned salmon, Calcium supplements, Buttermilk, Evaporated milk, Condensed milk, Soft cheese, Paneer, Hot chocolate, Porridge made with milk, Cheese sauce, Frozen yoghurt.
General information from NHS medicine pages and drug labels, not medical advice. Always follow your prescriber, pharmacist or the leaflet with your medicine. How we check.