5 Foods to Avoid While Taking Jardiance

Jardiance (empagliflozin) is a medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and heart failure. 

Jardiance works in the kidneys, where it stops the kidneys from reabsorbing glucose (sugar) back into the body. Instead, the kidneys pass extra sugar into your urine, and from there the sugar leaves the body. 

Jardiance can interact with some medications. But it doesn’t interact with any foods or drinks. So, there isn’t anything that you absolutely can’t eat or drink while taking Jardiance. 

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But there are certain foods and drinks that can increase your risk for developing side effects while taking Jardiance. And some foods and drinks keep Jardiance from working at its best. 

Here are five foods and drinks you should limit while taking Jardiance so you can get the best results while taking this medication. 

1. High-sugar foods

It’s a good idea to avoid foods that are high in sugar because they can raise your blood glucose. This makes it harder for Jardiance to keep your blood sugar within a target range. 

Limiting your sugar intake is good for your health, especially if you’re living with diabetes. Experts recommend limiting your sugar intake from added sugars to 25 g to 36 g each day. Most people eat 2 to 3 times more than the recommended cutoff. 

Avoiding added sugar isn’t easy, especially if you’re taking Jardiance. One study found that people taking Jardiance ate more high-sugar foods after starting the medication. It’s not clear why this happened. But researchers noted that people in the study didn’t have as good of a response to Jardiance as expected. And that was probably because they ate more sugary foods. 

You don’t have to cut out sugar entirely to get the best results from Jardiance. But it’s a good idea to stick to the recommended limits. You can check for added sugar in foods by reading the nutrition labels on the packaging. 

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2. Alcohol

There’s no amount of alcohol that’s safe for your health. And that’s doubly true when you’re taking Jardiance. There are several reasons you want to limit or cut out alcohol completely while taking Jardiance.

First, alcohol makes you pee more. Jardiance also causes increased urination. Added together, this can lead to dehydration. If you’re living with diabetes, dehydration can trigger diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is a medical emergency that can lead to serious health complications and even death. 

Second, Jardiance can trigger hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This is rare. But, if you have diabetes, alcohol increases your risk of developing hypoglycemia. So, if you regularly drink alcohol while taking Jardiance, your risk of experiencing hypoglycemia goes up.

You can lower your risk of hypoglycemic episodes by not mixing Jardiance and alcohol. 

3. Dehydrating foods

There are other foods and drinks that can increase your risk of developing dehydration. As mentioned above, dehydration can trigger DKA if you have diabetes. And DKA can be life-threatening.

Foods and drinks to watch out for include:

• Caffeinated drinks 

• Foods high in sodium (salt) 

• Foods high in protein

Normally, these foods wouldn’t trigger dehydration. The risk comes from mixing these foods with Jardiance.

Ultra-processed foods contain a lot of salt. Many contain a lot of added sugar too. So, if you’re taking Jardiance, those are two reasons to avoid these foods. Examples of ultra-processed foods include things like:

• Fast food

• Chips

• Soda

• Packaged baked goods 

• Candy

• Fruit drinks

You don’t have to cut out all these foods completely. But it’s a good idea to limit how much you consume. Your healthcare team can help you figure out how much is safe to eat.

4. Some minerals 

Some experts think that Jardiance can affect how the body processes minerals. There’s some evidence that Jardiance can affect your body’s ability to process:

• Magnesium

• Phosphate

• Potassium

People with heart failure and chronic kidney disease already have trouble processing these minerals. So, if you’re taking Jardiance to help manage these conditions, it’s important to avoid foods and supplements that contain high levels of these three minerals. 

Your healthcare team can help you determine how much is safe for you to consume each day. 

5. Ketogenic diet

A ketogenic diet isn’t just one food or drink. It’s an approach to eating that’s high in fat but low in carbohydrates. People with Type 2 diabetes are often asked to limit their carbohydrate and sugar intake. But a ketogenic diet restricts carbohydrate intake even more.

Following a ketogenic diet can be risky for your health if you’re taking Jardiance. 

In 2015, the FDA issued an alert that medications like Jardiance can trigger DKA, even if people have normal blood sugar levels. This was more common in people following ketogenic and very low-carbohydrate diets. 

There’s some evidence that a ketogenic diet can help control blood sugar control. But a less restrictive diet is probably better for your health if you’re taking Jardiance. Work with your healthcare team to determine what level of carbohydrate intake is safest for you. 

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Written by:

Jennifer Sample, MD

After a fellowship, Dr. Sample worked as the medical director at the University of Kansas Hospital Poison Center (The University Of Kansas Health System Poison Control Center), which served the state of Kansas for poison exposures. In 2007, she returned to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, as a consultant in clinical pharmacology and medical toxicology.

Edited by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

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