Q: My brother, suffering from acute depression, is on a drug which comes under the maoi group. His psychiatrist has asked me to consult a dietician as certain food items are restricted for patients taking this particular drug. Could you please advise?

SC, Darjeeling

Certain food and drug interactions can cause a lot of damage to the human system if one is not cautious. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (maois) used for treating depression is one such group. Some food contain biologically active Amines ex-tyramine, which if taken during a course of maois may result in un-wanted or even life-threatening reactions.

Most commonly reported problems include headaches, but rise in blood pressure leading to haemorrhage and subsequently death have also been recorded.

Food that need to be excluded (due to the presence of tyramine) are coffee, chocolates, avocado, soya sauce, cola beverages, broad beans, alcoholic drinks including beer and wine, red meat and its extracts, cheese and yeast. However, patient tolerance to tyramine may vary.

Eating fresh food and avoiding tinned, frozen products reduces the risk of consuming food containing proteins which may have undergone changes and possibly resulted in formation of tyramine.

Q: My son has jaundice. He is refusing to eat bland and boiled food. Can I use a little oil to prepare his food?

P.L, Haldia

A jaundice patient’s diet should be high in carbs, low in fat and moderate in protein. The food must not be very spicy or oily with fried foods being totally off the list, but it is not compulsory to force your son to take boiled food only. This makes the diet unpalatable and the patients who suffer from loss of appetite end up eating nothing at all.

This results in weakness, malnourishment and delayed recovery. Light curries made with little oil and mildly spiced may be given. Stewed and steamed preparations can be garnished with lime juice, pepper, coriander etc to make them appealing. Freely include fresh fruits, juices, desserts like custards made with low-fat milk, sugar, honey, jams and jellies.