Grapefruit Juice: The secret Dangers Of Drug Interaction

Grapefruit juice is one of the healthiest foods around, right?

A cup of unsweetened white grapefruit juice has only 100 calories, no fat, more than 100% of the recommended daily number of vitamin C, and it's got a zingy taste that can authentically get you sharp in the morning.

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However, grapefruit juice (including the juice found in your morning grapefruit half) can interact with sure medications, prominent to potentially serious consequences.

Which medications does grapefruit juice interact with?

Grapefruit juice can interact with many different drugs that citizen take to maintain their health. If you eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice, you should ask your prescribing condition care supplier and pharmacist about any drugs that you're currently taking and ask again either new drugs interact with grapefruit juice. The list below contains some of the drugs that interact with grapefruit juice. This is not a unblemished list, so if you're a grapefruit fan, check with your physician before beginning any medication.

* Valium (diazepam): This drug is used to treat sure seizure disorders and anxiety.

* Norvasc (amlodipine): This is one of the drugs called a "calcium channel blocker." It is used to treat angina (chest pain related to malfunctioning arteries colse to the heart). Grapefruit juice interacts with many of the calcium channel blockers

* Pravachol (pravastatin): Like some of the "statin" drugs used to lower cholesterol, grapefruit juice can convert the effectiveness of this product

* Cordarone (Amiodarone): This drug is used to treat "arrhythmias" - to correct irregular heart beat patterns.

What Are The Symptoms of These Interactions?

Use of any of these drugs while taking grapefruit juice can lead to serious complications. For example, the following have been observed in the interaction of each of the drugs above with grapefruit juice:

* Valium (diazepam): Grapefruit juice can cause you to feel sedated and might make it harder for you to operate your muscular movements; driving can be dangerous

* Norvasc (amlodipine): Grapefruit interacts with some of the calcium channel blockers to supply a very fast heartrate ("tachycardia") and/or a drop in blood pressure to below safe levels ("hypotension."

* Pravachol (pravastatin): The statin drugs can interact with grapefruit juice to cause muscle toxicities, symptoms of which include muscle weakness, aches and shaking

* Cordarone (Amiodarone): Ironically, mixing this drug with grapefruit juice can cause an increase in the very condition it is intended to treat - arrhythmias

What Causes These Potentially dangerous Interactions?

How can something as seemingly unobjectionable as grapefruit juice sway the medications you take? It has to do with a extra enzyme in your intestines and liver that help you suck in many oral drugs and then excrete them when you're done with the drug.

When a physician prescribes a specific dose of drug (for example, one pill of 50 mg), she works on the assumption that given the size of your body, you will suck in the drug into your body at a sure rate and excrete it at a sure rate. Enzymes in your gastrointestinal (or Gi) tract bring food and oral medications into your body. Grapefruit juice seems to sway both the rate of the drug coming into your body and how speedily it is removed. The end succeed can be an overdose of the drug) even if you're taking the correct dosage for your size.

What Can I Do To Avoid dangerous Drug Interactions?

If you are on medications that interact with grapefruit juices, avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice. Spacing out the drugs and the juice (for example, taking your medication at night and having grapefruit for breakfast) will Not solve the problem; the grapefruit juice succeed remains even after you've stopped having it. If you like the condition benefits of grapefruit, or just miss that morning zing, think about sharp to other fruits such as tomatoes (a single can has just 41 calories and more than 70% of the vitamin C for the day) or oranges.

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Maskalyk, J., "Grapefruit juice: potential drug interactions," Canadian curative relationship Journal, Volume 167 issue 3, p 279-80, 2002

Shapiro, L, "Drug interactions: Proteins, pumps, and P-450s," Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 47, issue 4, pages 467-84, 2002

Grapefruit Juice: The secret Dangers Of Drug Interaction

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