Certainly, starting your day with a glass of grapefruit half or a tart juice can be a healthy choice of lots of vitamin C and potassium, but taking certain medications can actually be the exact opposite.
“Grapefruit can affect the function of a variety of medications.” Emily Van Eck, MS, RDNthe Austin-based nutritionist, tells herself. Specifically, it could change the amount that reaches the system, worsening or mitigating the intended effect, says Van Eck. Yes, if you’ve been told to avoid grapefruit while taking certain medications, then know this advice teeth legal.
But does it apply to all drugs or only to risky drugs? And what about grapefruit juice and actual fruit chunks? Below you can break down everything you need to know about the interaction between grapefruit and medication and stay safe.
First, how does grapefruit interact with drugs?
In most cases, grapefruit interferes with the drug by messing with an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4, which plays a role in the metabolism of certain drugs. Under normal circumstances, CYP3A4 reduces absorption and makes it difficult to enter the bloodstream, but when you eat or drink grapefruit, a compound known as furanocoumarin binds to the enzyme and prevents it from doing its job. result? The amount of drug released into the bloodstream after absorption is “actually increases”, Yi Guo, Pharmdan associate professor at the School of Medicine, Albert Einstein, speaks to himself.
No, this is not a good thing. The higher the level of the medication, the higher the risk of side effects. Some MEDs may include serious health damage such as liver and muscle damage, as well as kidney failure.
However, in some cases, as more recent studies have shown, grapefruit is actually Opposition Some medication effects – causes a decrease in the drug concentration in your body. Grapefruit compounds can interfere with the function of proteins known as drug transporters. Ultimately, this will reduce the amount of drugs entering the blood and reduce its effectiveness.
According to Dr. Guo, the effects of grapefruit can be expected to stick around 24-72 hours for a while. Note that the duration is also proportional to the amount of fruit. Plus, not everyone reacts the same way. As the amount of CYP3A4 enzyme varies from person to person, the effect of Grapefruit on your Med depends in part on your own physiology.
Which medicine should you take with grapefruit?
There’s the whole: in a 2013 review Journal of the Canadian Medical Associationresearchers estimated that more than 85 drugs are known or predicted to be affected by grapefruit consumption. According to the following, we present some examples of specific types and products that have been documented to interact with fruit. FDA. Note that not all drugs in these classes have the same interaction.