On medication? Stay off the grapefruit.

Forums: Health, Medical News, Medications, Grapefruit, Furanocoumarins
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Just read this the other day, who would have thought that grapefruit could be so dangerous?

Quote:

Doctors have warned of a "lack of knowledge" about the dangers of mixing some medications with grapefruit.

The fruit can cause overdoses of some drugs by stopping the medicines being broken down in the intestines and the liver.

The researchers who first identified the link said the number of drugs that became dangerous with grapefruit was increasing rapidly.

They were writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The team at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada said the number of drugs which had serious side effects with grapefruit had gone from 17 in 2008 to 43 in 2012.

They include some drugs for a range of conditions including blood pressure, cancer and cholesterol-lowering statins and those taken to suppress the immune system after an organ transplant.

Chemicals in grapefruit, furanocoumarins, wipe out an enzyme which breaks the drugs down. It means much more of the drug escapes the digestive system than the body can handle.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20497086

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Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 2,681 • Replies: 20

[+3] - JPB - 11/27/2012I'd rather eat the grapefruit and stay off medicines.

@izzythepush,

I wonder whether, say, justfor a story line, If someone wanted to like, do somebody harm, like say murder them, I wonder whether using a grapefruit overdose would be detectable by forensic means?.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

How would they prove you a) knew about the grapefruit link, and b) gave it to the dead person? You could say you warned them not to take it but they wouldn't listen.

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I'd rather eat the grapefruit and stay off medicines.

1 Reply

@JPB,

Given that some of the meds are related to organ transplants and cancer treatment, I'd defer on the grapefruit if I was on any of the listed meds.

There's been a lot of coverage in the medical community up here about the dangers of grapefruit/grapefruit juice for at least 15 years. The official list is bigger now than it was a few years ago, but it's been standard practice for pharmacists to warn people about the possible problems with an even larger list of meds.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

There's been a lot of coverage in the medical community up here about the dangers of grapefruit/grapefruit juice for at least 15 years.

It's the first I'd heard of it, but the research was carried out where you are. It would never have crossed my mind that grapefruit could be harmful, anything that tastes that sour must be good for you.

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I understand that lemons and celery act the same.

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That BBC article Izzy linked also mentioned Seville oranges, and the fact they are used in a lot of marmalades.

I take little medication (luck, mostly) and always research the drug and ask pharmacist about interactions. That's one thing the internet is a big help about, though of course information isn't always correct.

1 Reply

@PUNKEY,

wow, mame, I have a short story but its set back in time when beta blockers and ACE inhibitors first came out.

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@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

That BBC article Izzy linked also mentioned Seville oranges, and the fact they are used in a lot of marmalades.

Of course, it's the BBC after all.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

this is about research published in 2004

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=720

Quote:

Interactions between grapefruit juice and medications have long been recognized. Last year, the Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics devoted an entire issue to grapefruit juice and the dangerous drug interactions that can result. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration requires all prospective new drugs that are thought to interact with this enzyme system to be tested for interactions with grapefruit juice. And a warning about grapefruit juice is included in the “food-drug interactions” that come with dozens of medications.

Quote:

Drugs that use the same pathway and interact with grapefruit juice target some of the most common health problems doctors see today. The list consists of more than 50 medications, including some drugs used to treat high cholesterol, depression, high blood pressure, cancer, depression, pain, impotence, and allergies.

Karch notes that interactions with grapefruit juice are well known and documented among drug researchers, and that an appropriate warning label is included with each prescription. Nevertheless, she says that many patients, nurses and doctors aren’t aware of the interactions or the potential serious consequences, and that many people fail to read the warning labels about drug-food interactions.

this references published research in the area of grapefruit/grapefruit juice going back to the early 1980's. there seems to have been a lot of activity in that area of research in the mid-1990's

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1873672/

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@izzythepush,

like that!

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@ehBeth,

I wasn't doubting you before, I don't tend to read a lot of medical journals.

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@izzythepush,

nevertheless , thi was old news. I think we discussed it here many moons ago

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@izzythepush,

Thank you for sharing this information. This is something to think about when eating grapefruit.

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@izzythepush,

Not so much 'proving it', but putting it into context for myself.

I knew that it had been a regular point of discussion with docs and pharmacists over the years - hamburgboy has talked about it as well with different meds he and mrs hamburger were prescribed over the years.

It is such a normal thing to be aware of - I wondered how long the knowledge had been out there. I can't control the research nerd in my soul.

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@farmerman,

I remember that, but more doesn't hurt.

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wow, I know this from first hand experience.

I once bought a bag of grapefruits, and the first one was so delicious, I ended up cutting up and eating a couple more.

Then I took my zoloft.

I got the sweats, was very shaky for a while. Not a nice experience.

I haven't eaten any, or had its juice since.

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I love grapefruit but I rarely eat it, because it has an air of unpredictability. Since I am not on any sort of medication, it may seem foolish to be that cautious, but that's the way I do things.

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@edgarblythe,

I expect people who farm grapefruit will be in a lot of trouble after this.

I think it is important to pinpoint (as some link I saw but didn't snag) just what kind of drugs grapefruit interferes with. Whatever link I saw was quite specific.

I don't like rumor ruining.

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On medication? Stay off the grapefruit.

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