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Grapefruit and its close relatives can increase the blood levels of certain drugs and cause serious side effects. Affected drugs include some medications for blood pressure and heart rhythm, among others. 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 31 common drugs that may have dangerous interactions with grapefruit, as well as some alternatives. Note:...

Statins can effectively lower high cholesterol, and many individuals take rosuvastatin, one member of this drug class. New research based on patient health records and published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology suggests that rosuvastatin, especially at higher doses, may have damaging effects on the kidneys. Reports had linked rosuvastatin with signs of kidney damage—hematuria (blood in the urine) and proteinuria (protein in the urine)—at the time of its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but little post-marketing surveillance exists to assess real-world risk. To investigate, Jung-Im Shin, MD, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public...

New data from the JUPITER study demonstrated that CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) 20 mg significantly reduced major cardiovascular (CV) events (defined in this study as the combined risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularization, hospitalization for unstable angina, or death from CV causes) by a dramatic 44% compared to placebo (p<0.001) among men and women with elevated hsCRP but low to normal cholesterol levels. Results also showed that for patients in the trial taking rosuvastatin: the combined risk of heart attack, stroke or CV death was reduced by nearly half (47%, p<0.001). risk of heart attack was cut by more than...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - AstraZeneca's recent full-page newspaper advertisements defending the safety of its cholesterol-lowering pill, Crestor, are "false and misleading," in part because serious concerns remain about the safety of the drug, federal drug regulators said Wednesday. The advertisements stated that "the F.D.A. has confidence in the safety and efficacy of Crestor" and that the agency "as recently as last Friday publicly confirmed that Crestor is safe and effective." Neither is true, said a letter from the Food and Drug Administration to AstraZeneca. In fact, days before the advertisements ran, top agency officials were widely quoted expressing concerns about...