Posted on 09/14/2022 6:55:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
BLOOD clots are either dangerous or beneficial depending on how and where they form. According to a case study published in the Lancet, a woman almost lost her leg due to a dangerous blood clot after eating the same fruit daily - how much do you eat?
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Blood clots often form in response to injury. This is the body's way of stemming bleeding. However, blood clots that form in one or more of the deep veins in the body can spell trouble. This is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). According to a chilling case report published in the Lancet journal, a woman almost lost her leg to amputation after a blood clot formed in the deep veins in her leg. And the possible cause is as surprising as it is shocking.
The woman ate a grapefruit daily and researchers suggest this may have contributed to the blood clot formation.
Emergency doctors in Olympia, in the US Pacific coast state of Washington, treated the 42-year-old woman in November 2008 after she was admitted with shortness of breath, dizziness and difficulty walking.
An ultrasound scan found she had a large clot blocking the veins of her left leg.
She was in imminent danger of losing the limb to gangrene, but doctors administered a clot-busting drug directly into the blockage and safely dissolved it.
The physicians found she had taken a relatively long car journey, of about an hour and a half, the day before; took a daily dose of oestrogen oral contraceptives; and had a genetic variant, called the factor V Leiden mutation, which is linked to a blood-clot disorder.
All are well-established factors for causing deep vein thrombosis (DVT), as these dangerous events are called.
But what "may well have tipped the balance" is that she had been eating a grapefruit every morning under a weight-loss diet begun three days earlier, the report said.
Grapefruit juice is known to block the action of an enzyme called CYP3A4 which breaks down the contraceptive hormone oestrogen.
This in turn boosts levels of coagulability - the tendency of blood to clot.
Grapefruit juice is broken down only very slowly, which means that it has a cumulative effect if taken daily.
Thus, on the third day of her diet, the patient's oestrogen levels would have been many times above normal, helping the clot to form.
However, it's important to keep a sense of perspective. Commenting on the findings at the time, Doctor Trevor Baglin, Consultant Haematologist, Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust, said: “From this case study it appears as if the grapefruit enhanced the thrombotic effect of the contraceptive pill in the presence of a genetic predisposition."
He continued: "However, it is worth pointing out that this is a single case study and a very unusual case at that.
"I would suggest that any extreme diets should be avoided because they can have unpredictable consequences.”
It's worth noting that people on statins - drugs that lower cholesterol and the subsequent risk of blood clots - are advised against eating grapefruit.
Do not drink grapefruit juice if you're taking simvastatin (a common type of statin), advises the NHS.
"Grapefruit juice increases the level of simvastatin in your blood and makes side effects more likely," the health body warns.
As it goes on to explain, atorvastatin - another common statin - also interacts with grapefruit juice if you drink large quantities (more than 1.2 litres daily), but an occasional glass is thought to be safe.
"Currently, healthcare professionals advise it is safe to drink grapefruit juice and eat grapefruit if you're taking other types of statins."
LOL!
Let that be a lesson to all yoi holistic loonies. Trust in drugs only to keep you healthy!
BS. It reads as if the researchers were trying very, very hard to find a way to steer the blame from oral contraceptives.
How to eat a grapefruit. Don't do it!
Good post.
What about pointed sticks?
I’m on Eliquis and IIRC I’m not supposed to eat grapefruit. I don’t, anyhow, but it seems that grapefruit and blood clots have a connection.
It slays me what “science” is discovering these days.
***She had four other known risk factors but they blame the grapefruit?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well she ate it THREE days in a row!***
And she rode in a car for an hour and a half!
They do, but the reality is this woman was on oral contraceptives, which are a much greater concern. How about being on those for years? I think that weighs in much more than the grapefruit.
You don’t eat grapefruit, or its juice if you are on any blood thinner. Nor do you use CBDs - they have substances similar to grapefruit.
A GRAPEFRUIT WON OUT OVER AN OMELET IN ‘PUBLIC ENEMY’
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1985-08-13-0320180035-story.html
But what “****may well have***” tipped the balance” is that she had been eating a grapefruit every morning under a weight-loss diet begun three days earlier, the report said.
_________
Weasel words.
Might the same “well have” been caused by Safe and Effective, Inc.?
anything but the clot-shot...
Balderdash... My mother ate grapefruit every day and died at 88.
heh
I don’t know. So many variables. At my 70s I can’t relate to the oral contraceptives facet.
That’s fine. Chemicals don’t require your faith to operate.
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