Drug & supplement interaction

Fermented Milk + Mesalamine

Mesalamine brand names: Pentasa, Asacol, Canasa, Rowasa, Lialda, and others.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Fermented Milk and Mesalamine in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the label for Mesalamine states a food rule worth keeping to, and the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Fermented Milk and Mesalamine

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Mesalamine and Fermented Milk in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Fermented Milk safety at a glance

Fermented Milk overall Generally safe Fermented milk is widely consumed as a food and is generally safe for most people.
Pregnancy Use caution Pasteurized fermented milk is generally fine, but avoid unpasteurized (raw-milk) products during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Generally safe Pasteurized fermented milk is generally considered safe as part of a normal diet while breastfeeding.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Mesalamine and Fermented Milk? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Mesalamine

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Mesalamine is filed under a single classification — oral drugs. Fermented Milk has documented interactions with 3 drug classes — the most serious being antibiotic drugs (moderate), antihypertensive drugs (moderate) and immunosuppressants (moderate) — and none of Mesalamine’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Fermented Milk Does Interact With Other Medications

Fermented Milk has 474 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Mesalamine isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 474 No known interaction 2,356 (incl. Mesalamine)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Fermented Milk

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Fermented Milk. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Fermented Milk and Mesalamine May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Bloating or gas / Stomach pain / Diarrhea / Vomiting Additional detail

    Fermented Milk

    “Orally, fermented milk can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating, vomiting, flatulence, nausea, and constipation. However, in some studies, adverse effects, such as abdominal cramping, bloating, softened stools, flatulence, abdominal distress, and diarrhea occurred equally as often in the control group.”

    Fermented Milk · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in constipation.

    6 sources cited
    1. 12775. Ishikawa H, Akedo I, Umesaki Y, et al. Randomized controlled trial of the effect of bifidobacteria-fermented milk on ulcerative colitis. J Am Coll Nutr 2003;22:56-63. PubMed
    2. 25486. Tamura, M., Shikina, T., Morihana, T., Hayama, M., Kajimoto, O., Sakamoto, A., Kajimoto, Y., Watanabe, O., Nonaka, C., Shida, K., and Nanno, M. Effects of probiotics on allergic rhinitis induced by Japanese cedar pollen: randomized double-blind, placebo-c
    3. 27327. Salminen, E., Elomaa, I., Minkkinen, J., Vapaatalo, H., and Salminen, S. Preservation of intestinal integrity during radiotherapy using live Lactobacillus acidophilus cultures. Clin Radiol 1988;39(4):435-437. PubMed
    4. 27342. Turchet, P., Laurenzano, M., Auboiron, S., and Antoine, J. M. Effect of fermented milk containing the probiotic Lactobacillus casei DN-114001 on winter infections in free-living elderly subjects: a randomised, controlled pilot study. J Nutr Health Aging 2
    5. 25494. Beausoleil, M., Fortier, N., Guenette, S., L'ecuyer, A., Savoie, M., Franco, M., Lachaine, J., and Weiss, K. Effect of a fermented milk combining Lactobacillus acidophilus Cl1285 and Lactobacillus casei in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea:
    6. 96879. Hove KD, Brøns C, Færch K, Lund SS, Rossing P, Vaag A. Effects of 12 weeks of treatment with fermented milk on blood pressure, glucose metabolism and markers of cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised double-blind placebo-contro

    Mesalamine

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Mesalamine. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Fermented Milk but not commonly for Mesalamine: constipation, a skin rash, itching and nausea.

Effects for Mesalamine come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Fermented Milk come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

How to take them

Some Mesalamine Products Have a Food Rule — Fermented Milk Should Not Break It

At least one FDA label for a product containing Mesalamine says to take it with food. If you take Fermented Milk on an empty stomach out of habit, keep them separate — and take Mesalamine with a meal where the label says to.

This may not be true of your version. Food instructions belong to the product, not the ingredient: two Mesalamine products can carry different directions, and extended-release forms often differ from immediate-release ones. The label we read is quoted below — check the directions on your own box or bottle, or ask your pharmacist, for how to take the exact product you were given.

( 2 ) Administer mesalamine delayed-release tablets with food.

From the Dosage and Administration section of the FDA label we read for Mesalamine — where that label names a specific product, the instruction is that product's. Read the label on DailyMed ›

A food rule is not an interaction — it is about how much of the medicine you absorb. The directions that came with your own product, and your pharmacist, outrank anything on this page.

From our Q&A

Questions About Fermented Milk or Mesalamine

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Fermented Milk or Mesalamine, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Mesalamine

This page covers Fermented Milk only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Mesalamine page lists 17 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Coffee Charcoal (moderate), European Mandrake (moderate), Glucomannan (moderate) and Guar Gum (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 7 moderate · 9 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Mesalamine page

“Activated charcoal is the one entry here I would treat as a genuine problem for anyone taking mesalamine (Asacol, Lialda, Pentasa, and others). It is the lone major-rated interaction among the 17 on file, because charcoal soaks up drugs in the gut and can pull mesalamine out of the picture before it does its job.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Mesalamine interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Fermented Milk and Mesalamine Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Fermented Milk
Top half

#455 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Mesalamine
Top 25%

#687 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Fermented Milk reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Fermented Milk and Mesalamine records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Fermented Milk

What is Fermented Milk?

  • Digestive health
  • Supporting gut bacteria (probiotics)
  • Lactose-related digestive discomfort
  • General nutrition (protein, calcium)
  • Immune support
  • Diarrhea prevention

Fermented milk is a food made by culturing milk with helpful bacteria or yeast, and it provides protein, calcium, and probiotics. It is generally safe for most people and may help digestion and gut health, though benefits depend on the product and strains used. People with milk allergy or weakened immune systems should be cautious.

Milk fermented by bacteria or yeast cultures · Yogurt, kefir, cultured buttermilk, drinkable yogurt, fermented milk drinks, powders

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Fermented Milk is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Fermented Milk record says about it on its own.

Fermented Milk: dosing

There is no single standard dose for fermented milk. As a food, people commonly have a serving such as a cup of yogurt or kefir, but amounts vary widely.For probiotic products, the helpful microbes are often measured in colony-forming units (CFU), and the right amount depends on the strain and the product.

From our Fermented Milk monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Fermented Milk monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Mesalamine

What Is Mesalamine Used For?

Brand names: Pentasa, Asacol, Canasa, Rowasa, Lialda, Delzicol

Mesalamine is used to treat mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis — a condition where the lining of the large intestine becomes inflamed and ulcerated. Depending on the product and formulation, it can be used to bring the disease under control (induction of remission) and/or to keep it from coming back (maintenance of remission).

Different products target different parts of the lower digestive tract. Oral forms (tablets and capsules) treat the colon more broadly. Rectal forms — including enemas (ROWASA, sfROWASA, mesalamine rectal suspension) — are used for distal ulcerative colitis, proctosigmoiditis, or proctitis (inflammation limited to the lower end of the colon or rectum). Rectal suppositories (CANASA, mesalamine rectal suppositories) are specifically for ulcerative proctitis (inflammation of the rectum only).

See full Mesalamine drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Fermented Milk

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Fermented Milk — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
474Moderate
0Minor
2,355No known interaction
474 Moderate 2,355 No interaction
Moderate

474 interactions

Showing 60 of 474 moderate interactions — see all 474 on the Fermented Milk page.

No interaction 2,355 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Fermented Milk against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,355 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Fermented Milk list.

See the full Fermented Milk interactions page
See every supplement checked against Mesalamine, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Fermented Milk References

The 16 references that drive our Fermented Milk monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Pierce A. The American Pharmaceutical Association Practical Guide to Natural Medicines. New York: The Stonesong Press, 1999:19.
  2. Ishikawa H, Akedo I, Umesaki Y, et al. Randomized controlled trial of the effect of bifidobacteria-fermented milk on ulcerative colitis. J Am Coll Nutr 2003;22:56-63. PubMed
  3. Inoue K, Shirai T, Ochiai H, et al. Blood-pressure-lowering effect of a novel fermented milk containing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in mild hypertensives. Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57:490-95.
  4. Xiao JZ, Takahashi S, Odamaki T, et al. Antibiotic susceptibility of bifidobacterial strains distributed in the Japanese market. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2010;74(2):336-42. PubMed
  5. Tamura, M., Shikina, T., Morihana, T., Hayama, M., Kajimoto, O., Sakamoto, A., Kajimoto, Y., Watanabe, O., Nonaka, C., Shida, K., and Nanno, M. Effects of probiotics on allergic rhinitis induced by Japanese cedar pollen: randomized double-blind, placebo-c
  6. Beausoleil, M., Fortier, N., Guenette, S., L'ecuyer, A., Savoie, M., Franco, M., Lachaine, J., and Weiss, K. Effect of a fermented milk combining Lactobacillus acidophilus Cl1285 and Lactobacillus casei in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea:
  7. Aihara, K., Kajimoto, O., Hirata, H., Takahashi, R., and Nakamura, Y. Effect of powdered fermented milk with Lactobacillus helveticus on subjects with high-normal blood pressure or mild hypertension. J Am Coll Nutr 2005;24(4):257-265.
  8. Salminen, E., Elomaa, I., Minkkinen, J., Vapaatalo, H., and Salminen, S. Preservation of intestinal integrity during radiotherapy using live Lactobacillus acidophilus cultures. Clin Radiol 1988;39(4):435-437. PubMed
  9. Turchet, P., Laurenzano, M., Auboiron, S., and Antoine, J. M. Effect of fermented milk containing the probiotic Lactobacillus casei DN-114001 on winter infections in free-living elderly subjects: a randomised, controlled pilot study. J Nutr Health Aging 2
  10. Fukushima, Y., Miyaguchi, S., Yamano, T., Kaburagi, T., Iino, H., Ushida, K., and Sato, K. Improvement of nutritional status and incidence of infection in hospitalised, enterally fed elderly by feeding of fermented milk containing probiotic Lactobacillus
  11. Cobo Sanz, J. M., Mateos, J. A., and Munoz Conejo A. [Effect of Lactobacillus casei on the incidence of infectious conditions in children]. Nutr Hosp 2006;21(4):547-551.
  12. Tormo Carnicer R., Infante Pina D., Rosello Mayans E., and Bartolome Comas R. [Intake of fermented milk containing Lactobacillus casei DN-114 001 and its effect on gut flora]. An Pediatr (Barc) 2006;65(5):448-453.
  13. Rio, M. E., Zago Beatriz L., Garcia, H., and Winter, L. [The nutritional status change the effectiveness of a dietary supplement of lactic bacteria on the emerging of respiratory tract diseases in children]. Arch Latinoam Nutr 2002;52(1):29-34.
  14. Hove KD, Brøns C, Færch K, Lund SS, Rossing P, Vaag A. Effects of 12 weeks of treatment with fermented milk on blood pressure, glucose metabolism and markers of cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised double-blind placebo-contro
  15. Prodeus A, Niborski V, Schrezenmeir J, Gorelov A, Shcherbina A, Rumyantsev A. Fermented milk consumption and common infections in children attending day-care centers: A randomized trial. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2016;63(5):534-543. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Fermented Milk and Mesalamine Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Fermented Milk with Mesalamine?
We do not list a known interaction between Fermented Milk and Mesalamine. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Fermented Milk and Mesalamine have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 4 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Should I take Fermented Milk and Mesalamine at the same time of day?
At least one FDA label for a product containing Mesalamine says to take it with food. If you take Fermented Milk on an empty stomach out of habit, keep them separate and take Mesalamine with a meal where the label says to. Food instructions belong to the product rather than the ingredient — two Mesalamine products can differ — so check the directions on your own box. This is about absorption, not an interaction.
How was the Fermented Milk and Mesalamine combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Mesalamine is filed under 1 classification, and Fermented Milk has documented interactions with 3 drug classes — none of Mesalamine's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Fermented Milk interact with any other medications?
Yes. Fermented Milk has 474 documented drug interactions in our database — Mesalamine is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Mesalamine interact with any supplements?
Yes. Mesalamine has documented interactions with 17 supplements in our database — Fermented Milk is not one of them. The Mesalamine interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Fermented Milk monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Mesalamine drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Mesalamine supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Mesalamine, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 16 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Mesalamine and Fermented Milk?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.