What’s really in your medication

Hidden ingredients

Hidden ingredients in medication

Most of a pill is not the medicine. It is fillers, binders, coatings, and dyes, and a landmark study found nearly 93% of oral medications contain at least one ingredient that can trigger a reaction in a sensitive person.

8 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Parents and kids

Allergy-safe medicine for kids

You have mastered food labels. Medication labels play by different rules. What to watch for, what to ask the pharmacist, and how to make a safer choice at 10pm with a feverish kid.

7 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Gluten and celiac

Gluten in medication

Drug makers are not required to say whether a medication contains gluten. Here is how gluten gets into pills, why the label may not tell you, and how to check your exact product.

7 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Dairy and lactose

Lactose in medication

Lactose is the single most common pill filler, found in nearly half of oral medications. What that means if you are lactose intolerant, and why it means something different if you have a true milk allergy.

6 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Alpha-gal syndrome

Alpha-gal and medication

If a tick bite gave you a red-meat allergy, your medicine cabinet is the next place to look. Mammal-derived fillers like magnesium stearate and gelatin hide in pills, and the label never says whether they came from an animal or a plant.

8 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Corn allergy

Corn in medication

Corn hides in medication under a dozen names you would never connect to corn: starch, dextrose, maltodextrin, and more. Why a corn allergy makes the pharmacy uniquely hard, and how to check the product in your hand.

7 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Soy allergy

Soy in medication

Soy hides in medication as lecithin and soybean oil, from tablets to IV drips. Why most refined soy derivatives are tolerated even by people with a soy allergy, and the injectable exceptions that are not.

6 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Dyes and additives

Dyes in medication

One food dye is required by federal law to carry an allergy warning on prescription labels. Why dyes are in medication at all, which ones are documented to cause reactions, and how to find dye-free versions.

6 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

PEG and polysorbates

PEG in medication

Polyethylene glycol is in laxatives, colonoscopy prep, steroid injections, and countless pills, and allergy to it is real, sometimes severe, and often missed. What PEG is, why it is easy to overlook, and how to check.

7 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Additives and colorants

Titanium dioxide in medication

Titanium dioxide whitens the coating on tens of thousands of pills. The EU banned it in food but kept it in medicine, and US regulators still allow both. The facts, so you can decide for yourself.

6 min read · Updated July 11, 2026

Sulfite sensitivity

Sulfites in medication

Sulfites are one of only a handful of inactive ingredients US law forces onto a drug label with a warning. Why they matter most for people with asthma, and the one life-saving exception to the rule.

6 min read · Updated July 11, 2026