You can take it with or without food. If it upsets your stomach, take it with food. Take your medicine at regular intervals. Do not take your medicine more often than directed.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether to take your antibiotic with food. Eating can help reduce stomach side effects from certain antibiotics such as amoxicillin and doxycycline (Doryx). However, this approach won’t work for all antibiotics. Some antibiotics, such as tetracycline, must be taken on an empty stomach.

The capsules can be taken with or without food. If the medicine upsets your stomach, it is best to take it with a meal or snack. The extended–release tablet must be taken without food, 1 hour before or 2 hours after a meal. Swallow the extended-release tablet whole.

Some medicines need to be taken “before food” or “on an empty stomach”. This is because food and some drinks can affect the way these medicines work. For example, taking some medicines at the same time as eating may prevent your stomach and intestines absorbing the medicine, making it less effective.

The F.D.A. defines an empty stomach as “one hour before eating, or two hours after eating.” The F.D.A.’s two-hour rule is just a rule of thumb; the stomach will probably not be completely empty.

Coffee increases the production of stomach acid but doesn’t appear to cause digestive issues for most people. Therefore, drinking it on an empty stomach is perfectly fine.

Drinking coffee on an empty stomach increases acidity, and without food to act as a buffer, this can quickly result in digestive problems. Consistently having too much acid in your stomach can cause damage to the digestive tract and lead to other issues including heartburn, ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome.

Wait, why shouldn’t I drink coffee in the morning? “Drinking caffeine first thing in the morning, when cortisol is high, blunts the hormone’s production and shifts the timing of the cycle,” Rosenblum explains. This can cause you to produce cortisol at times when it would normally drop (like at night).

Tea contains caffeine and is acidic in nature, which are two of the many factors that make it unfit to be consumed on an empty stomach. Tea is acidic, and when they drink tea on an empty stomach, it can cause acidity or heartburn.

Good news: The case for coffee is stronger than ever. Study after study indicates you could be getting more from your favorite morning beverage than you thought: Coffee is chock full of substances that may help guard against conditions more common in women, including Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease.