Experts Reveal the Secret Powers of Grapefruit Juice

NY Times ^ | March 21, 2006 | NICHOLAS BAKALAR

[neverdem]

In 1989, a group of Canadian researchers studying a blood pressure drug were astonished to discover that drinking a glass of grapefruit juice dangerously increased the drug's potency.

They were testing the effects of drinking alcohol on a medicine called Plendil. The scientists needed something that would hide the taste of alcohol so that subjects would know only that they were taking the drug and not know whether they were drinking alcohol with it.

"One Saturday night, my wife and I tested everything in the refrigerator," said David G. Bailey, a research scientist at the London Health Sciences Center in London, Ontario, and the lead author on the study. "The only thing that covered the taste was grapefruit juice."

So they used it in their experiment, expecting the grapefruit juice to be irrelevant to their results. But blood levels of the drug went up significantly in the control group that drank just grapefruit juice, without alcohol.

"People didn't believe us," Dr. Bailey said. "They thought it was a joke. We had trouble getting it published in a major medical journal."

Eventually the paper was accepted and published by Lancet, in February 1991.

Finding why juice had that effect was the next question.

The answer, it turned out, lay in a family of enzymes called the cytochrome P-450 system, in particular one known as CYP 3A4. This enzyme metabolizes many drugs, and toxins as well, into substances that are less potent or more easily excreted or both.

Grapefruit juice interferes with the ability of CYP 3A4 to do that, increasing...

[oxcart]

Badawy&Evans way ahead of these guys Once you read enough of Badawy and Evans work you will never look at they way drugs act in the body the same way. I am getting this HTML thing down, LOL :)

[Right Wing Assault]

Odor is a large part of a flavor. Graprefruit smells good.

Yes, it smells good, but I hate to drink it. My taste buds find bitter very irritating. Some people don't really react to bitter much.

[A CA Guy]

Thanks for the tip.

I'm an adult who still stays active with tennis and racquetball several hours a week.
Do you know if it is possible that it helps in cleaning out your system in general, or are you saying it also helps the immune system.

A also quickly checked you FR bio, and all I can say is lots of love you way, God Bless and sincere thanks for your service. :)

[A CA Guy]

Hmmm, maybe we can end up also using grapefruit instead of oil as a future energy source, the good things are adding up about the stuff on this thread indeed. :)

[groanup]

Isn't a salty dog, gin and grapefruit juice?

I have mine with vodka. Which brings up an interesting point: I like my grapefruit with salt on it. Great kick in the morning.

[A CA Guy]

I talked with someone who has blood pressure problems and they said they knew about this issue with juice and it is mostly about not drinking a lot or at the exact time you take medication.

They figured having a half a grapefruit in the morning would NOT be an issue just as YOU are saying.

You two could be right. I'm not a doctor though, so I can only listen on this topic from others who have dealt more with the issue.

[A CA Guy]

Also, they're not that tart if you sprinkle sugar on them.

I'll try that, I know the DNC tried that with their candidates and it did NOT work.

[damper99]

LOL! I had the same thought about mixing those two!

[Texas Mom]

I was told years ago not to drink Grapefruit Juice for two hours after taking my high blood pressure medicine. Then later I was put on Beta Pace for an irregular heart rhythm and there are warnings all over it to NOT drink Grapefruit Juice or eat Grapefruit ever while taking this med.

I thought it was because the Grapefruit counteracted the effectiveness of the drug and would render it ineffective.

[Texas Mom]

Sprinkle sugar on the grapefruit to take the tartness away.

Or if your some place where you can get a Ruby Red Grapefruit you don't need sugar but you can't get them everywhere but you can in Texas. They grow them down in the valley and it breaks my heart that I can't have them.

[spkpls4]

That's 'cause they used "saccharine" -- makes things have a "bitter" way.

[Justa]

If you're over 40 do the digestive cleansing thing. With all the waxes, gums and other artificial additives in foods there're supposedly all kinds of permanent deposits along the digestive track which serve as resevoirs for germs and bacteria. I did it a few years ago and it worked. Some people/groups seem to be really into the whole thing but I just did it for the immediate improvement of health and energy. The 'symptoms' went away (I'll spare you the details) and I felt much better. It's simple, over the counter stuff too albeit nasty. Better stuff is mail order. It took me about 2 weeks.

Thanks for the kind wishes. I'll probably be going on the road again for an extended period in another month so I appreciate the good thoughts. On the up side I haven't 'checked-off' on Basrah, Mosul, and a few other places yet so I'm looking forward to it in that regard. Plus the helicopter rides!

[Lancey Howard]

Great post!
I'll tell you this: I noticed a clear difference in my metabolism and general health when I started taking my daily vitamin regimen with a big glass of grapefruit juice. Now I make it a point to take my vitamins with grapefruit juice.

(For the record - - in case anybody cares - - I take a B-complex 100 cap, 2 x Ester-C 500 caps, and a coenzyme Q-10 100 softgel, along with a huge mouthful of raw bee pollen. Swig it all down with grapefruit juice. MMMmmm mmmm! Every other day I take one of those little coated aspirins, and maybe once a month I take a little bit of natural E softgel and a selenium tab. Also, about every other day I eat a 'Coldease' lozenge w/ zinc gluconate glycine. I NEVER get sick.)

[cgk]

BFLR