Take a pill (the legal kind, of course) and you’ll likely end up with an unpleasant, bitter taste in your mouth. As trivial as it may seem, this is a pretty big problem in medicine, but one that exists for good reasons.
Why do medicines taste so bad?
As the American Chemical Society explains, most chemicals in medicines are derived from plants and are therefore inherently bitter.
Medications are also formulated to contain as few additives as possible, as they can interfere with the action of the active ingredients. Adding tasty flavorings is low on the priority list and could potentially cause more problems than it solves.
The bitter taste is thought to have evolved to deter the ingestion of toxic substances. Since medications can be toxic in high enough quantities, it’s a benefit that many of us find the taste of pills repellent.
However, this is not the case for all medicinal pills. Ibuprofen (aka Advil) can taste sweet because it’s literally coated in a layer of sugar. The most likely explanation is that ibuprofen can irritate the stomach, so coating it prevents the medication from breaking down until it reaches the intestines.
Make pills taste better
Bad-tasting pills can cause headaches for doctors and patients alike. More than 90 percent of pediatricians said the unpleasant taste of medications was the main barrier to completing treatment. This is a particularly important problem for children because they have an increased sensitivity to bitter tastes until adolescence.
Antiretroviral drugs for HIV have a notoriously bitter taste, which has proven to be a significant barrier to adherence, particularly among young children. To overcome this obstacle, some drugmakers have created alternatives to drugs like dolutegravir that are strawberry-flavored and dissolve in water.
Some scientists hope to solve the broader problem of terrible-tasting pills. Scientists from UCL’s School of Pharmacy are using data collected from an electric tongue to create an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can predict the bitterness of medicines. They ultimately aim to make medications slightly more palatable to ensure patients adhere to their medication treatment plan.
Tips to Make Pills Easier to Swallow
If you find it difficult to take medications because of their taste, there are some simple tips to help you. First, try placing the pill on the back of your tongue and swallowing it quickly with a glass of water. Second, just hold your nose; your sense of smell is responsible for about 80 percent of what you taste.
Finally, you can cover the pill with something sweet like honey or maple syrup. In the words of Mary Poppins, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
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