# Why is medicine (underneath the coating) always so terribly bitter? Are there sweet medicines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086 "2014-12-24T06:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/21 "2014-12-25T01:42:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Pills can be coated to reduce stomach irritation, or as part of a time release mechanism. Those would be enteric coatings. I’ve never chewed it, but I believe thyroid replacement hormone is sweet. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/22 "2014-12-25T03:16:20Z")
My Lisinopril (ACE inhibitor) is in a tiny, uncoated tablet, and it has a faintly sweet taste. I suspect it’s the chemical itself, but it may be mixed with a sweetener. I think a lot of medicines they make it taste bad so kids do not eat it. If they make it taste sweet than kids can get into it and may die. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/23 "2014-12-25T10:08:21Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Those would be enteric coatings. > > I’ve never chewed it, but I believe thyroid replacement hormone is sweet. I was just coming in for that one. I started chewing my levothyroxine a couple of years ago after I had surgery and wasn’t up to swallowing pills. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/24 "2014-12-25T10:35:27Z")
Sodium bromide always has a salty taste. Potassium bromide can taste sweet or salty, depending on the concentration. (Once upon a time bromides were extremely popular as sedatives and anticonvulsants, though nowadays they’re banned in many jurisdictions.) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/25 "2014-12-25T10:43:13Z")
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of obsolete drugs, chloroform also has a sweet taste. (Though today we think of chloroform as something whose vapours are inhaled to effect unconsciousness, in the 1800s liquid chloroform was administered orally to treat nausea and abdominal pain.) ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/26 "2014-12-25T11:11:09Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Pills can be coated to reduce stomach irritation, or as part of a time release mechanism. I think some also use enteric coating for drugs which are destroyed by stomach acid so they are only released in the intestinal tract. There might be an issue with some with first pass metabolism too, but I am not sure on that(liquid from the stomach is sent directly to the liver, so if the drug is broken down by liver enzymes you don’t want that). ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/27 "2014-12-28T05:52:50Z")
It’s probably not the main reason, but manufacturers have no incentive to encourage people to split pills. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/28 "2014-12-28T06:11:23Z")
Adderall, due to it’s main filler, Lacitol, taste like sugar. It’s very sweet. There’s so many things they could use, why they use one that makes it taste like candy (which makes it oddly pleasant to snort), I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you what actual dextro-amphetamine tastes like though. I remember back in college one of my friends got a hold of some pure DXM powder (the main ingredient in Robitussin). I remember him tasting a little bit of it and his whole face puckering into his mouth and saying ‘no wonder Robitussin tastes so bad, it’s to cover up that’. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/29 "2014-12-28T06:15:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Adderall, due to it’s main filler, Lacitol, taste like sugar. It’s very sweet. There’s so many things they could use, why they use one that makes it taste like candy (which makes it oddly pleasant to snort), I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you what actual dextro-amphetamine tastes like though. > > I remember back in college one of my friends got a hold of some pure DXM powder (the main ingredient in Robitussin). I remember him tasting a little bit of it and his whole face puckering into his mouth and saying ‘no wonder Robitussin tastes so bad, it’s to cover up that’. UH! You had to remind me of that, fifty grams of blech! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/30 "2014-12-28T06:28:46Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > …Plants, in general, have evolved a taste that discourages animals from eating them prematurely, and then some have evolved a taste that does encourage animals to eat the seeds of the mature plants, in order to distribute those seeds. … Well, the plants didn’t “evolve” this way. Rather the plants that thrived did so because of their innate properties. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/31 "2014-12-28T06:34:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It’s very sweet. There’s so many things they could use, why they use one that makes it taste like candy (which makes it oddly pleasant to snort) I don’t think that’s what makes it pleasant. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/32 "2014-12-28T09:29:16Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > It’s probably not the main reason, but manufacturers have no incentive to encourage people to split pills. Many pills are pre-scored down the middle. Why would manufacturers do this if not to make the pills easier to split? Some of them even include an insert in the package explaining that it’s safe to split the pills. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/33 "2014-12-28T15:10:23Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I don’t think that’s what makes it pleasant. 😉 Well, what came after it was plenty pleasant, but I nasally insuffullated much less pleasant things during my college years (no, not that, I did plenty of that, that wasn’t unpleasant at all, if it’s good stuff it’s pretty innocuous, partially due to it’s numbing effects I’m sure and more due to relating the ‘smell’ with how you’re going to feel in about 8 seconds). Anyways, like I said, Adderal tastes like sugar, it tastes like it when you take it orally, it ‘smells’ like it when you snort it (and when it drips back down the back of your throat). As I said above, I’m really not sure why they use sugar as a filler. I’m sure there’s a reason, but you’d think they’d use something that would make people less likely to abuse it. They’re still going to, but at least some people would say ‘no thanks, that stuff’s gross’. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086/34 "2014-12-28T15:17:56Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Many pills are pre-scored down the middle. Why would manufacturers do this if not to make the pills easier to split? Some of them even include an insert in the package explaining that it’s safe to split the pills. [From WebMD.](http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide-to-pill-splitting) > [@](#): > > Pills You Can Split Safely > > It’s important to talk to your doctor or pharmacist before you start cutting up your pills. In general, however, look for these three signs that a pill is safe to split: > > ``` > FDA approval. If the FDA has approved a drug for splitting, it will be printed on the package insert. > Thumbs up from your doctor or pharmacist. Before splitting any pill to save money, talk it over with your health care professional or pharmacist. > Scored down the middle. Scored pills are easier to split evenly. **But a line down the middle does not automatically make a pill safe to split.** Check with your doctor or pharmacist, or look for the FDA approval. > > ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-medicine-underneath-the-coating-always-so-terribly-bitter-are-there-sweet-medicines/708086.md?page=1)