Levothyroxine: the liquid format eliminates waiting times

Anyone who has taken a drug at least once in their life knows it well: the intake of any active ingredient must be "away from meals", that is, it is necessary to wait at least 30-60 minutes before introducing the drug after consuming food and drinks. It was believed this was also the case for levothyroxine, a hormonal drug used in the treatment of hypothyroidism and non-toxic nodular goiter, but a study confirms that the liquid formulation can also be taken simultaneously with breakfast.

Tiroide.com talked about it with Prof. Efisio Puxeddu of the University of Perugia, to help patients understand the correct indications for taking this drug.

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Thyroid: with liquid therapy, waiting times for breakfast are eliminated

Prof. Puxeddu, what do the research say about how to take levothyroxine in liquid form at breakfast time?

Several studies have been published, all related to this topic. The first is a retrospective study that analyzes the absorption of the drug in patients who in any case already had the habit of taking it together with coffee, violating the directives of doctors. This study shows that in reality, using the liquid formulation, there is no difference in the effectiveness of the treatment, whether the wait of 30-60 minutes between taking the drug and breakfast is respected, or whether it is taken with breakfast. itself.

After the "success" of this study, two more have been designed. The first, published in "Thyroid", really well done - randomized double blind - in which patients were asked to take the drug or the placebo 30 minutes before breakfast, without knowing which of the two it was, and the same thing is taken at breakfast time, with the aim of demonstrating that there is no difference between taking the drug 30 minutes before breakfast or at breakfast time.

Is it correct to argue, therefore, that there are no differences in effectiveness with respect to the timing of recruitment? Are there other studies on this that confirm this hypothesis?

This study clearly demonstrated, in a scientifically correct way, that there are no significant differences between the intake of levothyroxine in liquid form at breakfast time or 30 minutes before.

Then there is another study, published in "Endocrine", which comes from our group, in which we analyzed whether there was a difference between intake at breakfast and 10 minutes before. Here, too, we did not find any difference in the effectiveness of the drug between taking it 10 minutes before or at breakfast time, and a "post hoc" analysis then revealed that ultimately there are no differences between taking the medication at breakfast time, 10 minutes before, or 30 minutes before.These studies clearly have an important impact, because they begin to demonstrate, as was hypothesized, that liquid levothyroxine can be taken at breakfast without affecting its effectiveness.

To find out more, connect to the Tiroide.com website and take part in the Thyroid 2.0 event scheduled for next October 20th