Effect of Food Consistency on the Pharmacokinetics of Ranitidine in Healthy Volunteers

Background Food can affect the bioavailability of various drugs, and the consistency of food may also affect the bioavailability of drugs when they have to be given simultaneously. Alterations of ranitidine bioavailability due to food consistency have not been well documented. Objective To evaluate the effect of food consistency on the pharmacokinetics of ranitidine. Methods The study included 20 healthy volunteers. In the first phase, volunteers received oral ranitidine 300 mg after a meal of solid consistency (SC). Two weeks later (washout period), subjects took the medication after ingesting food of liquid consistency (LC); blood samples were drawn for both groups at the same intervals and were analyzed using HPLC. Results The AUC was nearly 30% greater with LC than with SC, maximum concentration was 665.81 ± 192.21 (SC) versus 1177.30 ± 588.19 ng/mL (LC). Mean ± SD volume of distribution was 5.93 ± 1.69 (SC) versus 3.76 ± 0.61 L/kg (LC). These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions It is evident that there are differences in drug availability due to the ingestion of foods with different consistency. It is possible that altered bioavailability of ranitidine affects its efficacy as an inhibitor of gastric secretion.