The interaction between grapefruit and drugs

All the media is roaring about the interaction between grapefruits and pharmaceutical drugs. At first, I did not get what the problem was, since this was known for some years now. Well, it seems that now the grapefruits are guilty of lowering the drugs’ absorption (until now it was generally known that grapefruits increase the rate of which some drugs enter the blood stream). What can I say, that’s interesting, especially since it’s not just about taking the drugs with grapefruit juice, but the effect of the grapefruits lasts more than 24 hours (some even mention 72 hours). That’s strange…

The most laughable is the conclusion of these researchers, when they say that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that they will come across more drugs that interact with food. We’re on the right path, maybe at some time we will be forced to swallow just chemical pills and we will not be allowed to eat any real food at all. What can I say, if I would be put to choose between citrics and drugs (I’m not talking about desperate cases) I would stick to the citrics.

I know that not everybody believes in miracles like: eat healthy, practice some sports, take care of your mind and all these solve any kind of health problem. Especially in our country, where you don’t find any organic food, it’s indeed difficult to make these statements. But if that drug is not absolutely necessary to you, think about giving it up in favor of the citrics.

If you would like to see how do fruits (because we’re also talking about tangerines, some types of oranges and… apples!) interact with drugs, but also if you would like to see some lists of these certain drugs, check these:

About grapefruit in Wikipedia


This year (august) reports

(Or, you can find the report right at the American Chemical Society The ACS Report )

The Mayo Clinic list of the drugs that interact with grapefruit

The 2006 report of the American Academy of Family Physicians, where you can find a list with the drugs

I hope you won’t find in these lists any kind of drugs that you usually take. Especially since this would mean that you’re healthy :D.

Also, what you can read in Wikipedia is the 2007 report that claims that grapefruits are boosting the levels of estrogen, and so, they are causing breast cancer. This is not going to make me not eat grapefruit anymore, because this would be a loss for my overall health. But, as with other food items, what we must learn is that too much of a good thing can be harmful. Everything is about variation and moderation . Because by eating too much from a food item you’re harming yourself both by the overfilling of your body with the same stuff and by lacking so many other nutrients that you could find in other food items.