2023-09-01 16:32:25
Drinks made from freshly squeezed fruit are not only tasty and powerful pick-me-ups, but also quite healthy thanks to the vitamin dose that is usually present. This usually also applies to Grapefruitsaft. However, anyone who is ill and takes medication should, as a precaution, refrain from enjoying it.
Grapefruit juice: Fatal combination with medication possible
As a pharmacologist from the US Food and Drug Administration describes, grapefruit juice in combination with medication can lead to significant problems. Depending on the drug, it can then cause too little or even too much of the active ingredient in the blood. In the former case, the effect is significantly reduced, but in the latter, life-threatening consequences threaten.
This is primarily due to the so-called furocoumarins in the fruit, as ScienceAlert explains explained. These are concentrated in high doses in the grapefruit and occur, among other things, as bergamottin and 6′,7′-dihydroxybergamottin. Both variants can significantly impair the delivery of drugs into the human body.
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Grapefruit juice can cause an overdose
The furocoumarins can interact with drugs in two ways, since medicines usually work in two ways: some are broken down in the body by an enzyme, others get into the blood through special proteins that carry them on.
For example, the body produces the enzyme cytochrome P450 (CYP 3A4 for short), which helps to break down small foreign molecules such as toxins or active pharmaceutical ingredients. The body can then eliminate them. It thus helps in the processing of medicines in the body. But furocoumarins inhibit the production or utilization of CYP 3A4 and related enzymes – just a glass of grapefruit juice is said to be enough.
This ensures that the right dose does not get into the body – but an overdose. This can cause a number of side effects such as rapid heartbeat, bone marrow poisoning, breathlessness or kidney failure. Drugs used to treat cholesterol, blood pressure, cancer or anxiety are just a few of the many examples where this can occur.
Effect of medicine can also be weakened
Other active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as fexofenadine to prevent allergic reactions, depend on special transporters in the body for their effect in order to get into the body’s cells. Here, too, furocoumarins intervene by preventing these transporters from working. This in turn reduces the effect of a tablet significantly.
A complete renunciation of grapefruit juice is not absolutely necessary in the case of illness. However, it is advisable to consult a doctor beforehand. A look at the package insert of the pills should also provide information as to whether there is a risk or not. If you are still not sure, just drink water.
Sources: FDA, ScienceAlert
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