Posted on 03/20/2017 2:47:38 PM PDT by blam
Note: This article contains general information — not specific medical advice. Talk to your physician before changing your use of any medication.
Grapefruit is a delicious citrus fruit with many health benefits.
However, it can interact with some common medications, altering their effects on your body.
If you're curious about the grapefruit warning on many medicines, this article will help you understand why it's there and what your options are.
Here's a closer look at 32 common drugs that may have dangerous interactions with grapefruit.
How does it interact with medications?
How does it interact with medications?
Medications are processed in your liver and small intestine by a specialized group of proteins called cytochrome P450 (CYPs).
CYPs break down medications, reducing the blood levels of many of them.
Grapefruit and a few of its close relatives, such as Seville oranges, tangelos, pomelos and Minneolas, contain a class of chemicals called furanocoumarins.
Furanocoumarins disrupt the normal function of CYPs. In fact, studies show that they increase the blood levels of over 85 medications (1).
By slowing down the way in which CYPs normally break down medications in your gut and liver, grapefruit can increase the side effects of these drugs (1).
There are three things to know in order to understand if and how you can safely consume grapefruit with these medications.
1. It doesn’t take much: One whole grapefruit or one glass of grapefruit juice is enough to alter how these medications affect you.
2. It lasts several days: Grapefruit’s ability to affect medication lasts for 1–3 days. Taking your medication a few hours apart from consuming it isn’t long enough.
3. It’s significant: For a small number of drugs, grapefruit’s effects can be serious.
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I’m more concerned for my wife than myself ... she likes grapefruit. She’s not on any of the afore-mentioned medicines, but with the passage of time, you never can tell.
There’s a tendency to not take these things seriously.
And, come to think of it, every few years, I have occasionally taken erithrymycin, which is on the list.
We’ve become a prescription nation. I wonder sometimes how many are actually needed.
would this be the pure juice or the corn syrup sweetened junk juice cocktail you get at the stores/
Pappy sez fiddle ... mix it with vodka and it’ll jazz up things.
I’ve read grapefruit affects statins like Crestor and generics too.
Pomegranate juice also.
Conversely, grapefruit juice can also reduce the quantity required of some drugs — and thus improve the efficacy, while reducing side effects. In some cases, that can be a big money-saver (less of an expensive drug required).
“We’ve become a prescription nation. I wonder sometimes how many are actually needed.”
Blood pressure reduction is understandable...I’m ok there. But I did tell my doc where to shove his statin drugs.
Eat the healthy natural citrus fruit and beware of taking drugs and ingesting processed foods-it works for me-I was brought up in an all-things-natural family...
Sildenafil???
What is the effect of grapefruit on sildenafil?
(viagra...)
Crap! One of my meds in on there! I am going to ask my doctor about this.
I used to love a greyhound cocktail; vodka and grapefruit with just a wee bit of salt. Can’t have one anymore due to the Lipitor.
OK, by the simple expedient of reading the article, I answered my own question: Grapefruit can cause reduced blood pressure when taken with any of the drugs in the class of PDE-5 inhibitors like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, and Stendra.
Fortunately for me, reduced bloodpressure would be a good thing!
Seems like it increases the effect of viagra... Leaving now to buy a crate of grapefruit at Sam’s.
“One I know of that isn’t listed is Methotrexate, which lowers the immune response.”
Just came off of that. Nasty drug.
Where is Rotunzapine on the list?
Statins, ugh. No warnings I recall, I was eating grapefruit and taking GENERIC NAME: rosuvastatin BRAND NAME: Crestor.
Muscle pain and aches, other problems.
Don’t know if the grapefruit was a problem or if just made the statin side-effects worse, or if it was just the statin.
But I could tell something was wrong. Anyway my cholesterol was down, I lost weight, better diet, exercised and discontinued it. Everything seems copacetic now.
Oil the gun. Eat the cannoli.
One would think that a Doctor would know these things and tell his patients.
Well, a good doctor at least.
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