by Kathleen Fifield

While you’ve probably given your metabolism some thought when it comes to midlife weight gain, your digestive process affects other things, too — including how your body handles any drugs you take.

“‘Your metabolism changes a lot as part of the normal aging process,’ explains internist Michael Hochman, clinical associate professor of medicine and director of the University of Southern California Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science. ‘Your liver breaks things down differently, your kidneys stop being as efficient, and your GI system works a little more slowly. That means a medication that your body may have had no trouble metabolizing when you were middle-aged becomes more problematic as you get older.’ As a result, you’ll be more susceptible to possible side effects from the medications you take than someone a decade or two younger, he says.

“Overall, 1 in 6 adults over age 65 are likely to have a harmful reaction to one or more of the meds they’re popping, according to the American Geriatric Society.”

C;lick here to read this article at AARP in its entirety.

Read this related information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Adverse Drug Events in Adults