Short answer first, then the reasoning. Oral semaglutide is absorbed in the stomach with the help of SNAC, which locally raises pH and protects the peptide long enough to cross. That mechanism is fragile: bioavailability is roughly 1% and highly sensitive to gastric contents, so a mouthful of coffee genuinely changes the exposure. This is why the label wants 30 minutes and no more than half a glass of plain water.

Dr.SportsMedIN said:

Oral semaglutide is absorbed in the stomach with the help of SNAC, which locally raises pH and protects the peptide long enough to cross.

Dr.SportsMedIN has the substance of this right. The condition it depends on is worth stating. Worth adding that the tablet is taken daily, so a missed dose costs far less than a missed weekly injection. That is a genuine advantage nobody lists.

GraceAZ_72 said:

I switched from injectable to oral semaglutide for travel reasons and the fasting window is proving harder to hold than the injection ever was.

Same position here, arrived at the long way round. Orforglipron is the more interesting oral story because it is not a peptide at all. Being a small molecule it does not need SNAC, does not need the fasting window, and has oral bioavailability in the tens of percent rather than about one.

From the other side of the consultation, briefly. Worth answering the question that was asked rather than the one behind it. The narrow version usually has an answer; the broad version usually does not, and answering the broad one is how a thread stops being useful.