FOOD–DRUG INTERACTIONS: KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING, AND COUNSELLING PRACTICES AMONG PORTUGUESE COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS — A PRELIMINARY CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Food–drug interactions (FDIs) represent a clinically critical yet frequently overlooked intersection between nutrition and pharmacotherapy, capable of substantially altering drug absorption, bioavailability, and therapeutic outcomes. Community pharmacists occupy a frontline role in FDI risk communication and patient counselling. While knowledge gaps among healthcare professionals have been documented in other professional groups, pharmacist-specific evidence in Portugal remains scarce, representing a relevant gap in the context of medication safety.
A preliminary cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a structured, purpose-designed online questionnaire administered to community pharmacists in Portugal (n = 62). The instrument assessed general and specific FDI knowledge, undergraduate and continuing education exposure, perceived clinical relevance, and counselling behaviours. Descriptive statistics and exploratory analyses examining associations between professional background variables and knowledge outcomes were performed. Sample expansion is ongoing to enable inferential analyses in a forthcoming full study.
Over 95% of participants recognised FDIs as clinically relevant to patient safety. Although 87.1% reported undergraduate exposure to the topic, only 11.3% rated that training as adequate. Approximately half of the respondents did not systematically screen patients' complete medication regimens during counselling. Critically, ~40% failed to identify the most frequently occurring FDI, and 50% were unable to identify the most clinically severe one. Continuing professional education was considered essential by over 98% of participants.
These preliminary findings reveal meaningful knowledge deficiencies and training gaps regarding FDIs among Portuguese community pharmacists. As an underexplored professional group in this domain, these results underscore the need for targeted educational interventions, revised undergraduate curricula, and clinical decision-support tools. Expanded data collection is underway to consolidate and extend these findings.