Eating grapefruit and taking medicine: Some notes to be careful

Grapefruit and grapefruit juice are very good for health, because they provide many essential nutrients for the body to grow. However, if the patient is taking medicine to treat some diseases, they should not eat grapefruit, because the components in grapefruit can cause some unwanted drug interactions.

Grapefruit, like grapefruit juice, provides many important substances for the body such as vitamin C, potassium, fiber and many other nutrients. However, when eating grapefruit and taking medicine at the same time, it is possible that grapefruit will interact with many drugs and lead to dangers to the health of patients because of the ingredients in grapefruit.
First of all, it is Furanocoumarin found in grapefruit as well as other fruits of the same family such as sour oranges. This substance can interact with drugs that are taken into the body and leave serious consequences on the patient's health. Furanocoumarin is metabolized by the enzyme CYP3A4 present in the small intestine to reactive intermediates that bind to certain active sites of this enzyme, thereby causing irreversible inactivation of the enzyme, thereby causing CYP3A4 The drug cannot be broken down in the body, causing the amount of medicine in the blood to rise, causing more side effects. This enzyme only works again once it is deactivated and at this time the drug is metabolized normally in the body. This chemical is available in the composition of grapefruit as well as other fruits, so if you eat grapefruit in the amount of about 1 fruit or drink 200ml of grapefruit juice, it can increase the concentration of drugs in the blood in the whole body. clinical symptoms and undesirable effects.

Because there are drug interactions that take place when eating grapefruit and taking medications, if a patient is being treated with any of these drugs, it is necessary to consult with a doctor or pharmacist about whether the drug being used is compatible. Does it work with grapefruit or other fruits like oranges or tangerines?
Patients should actively remove grapefruit products from their daily diet, not just eat grapefruit away from the time of taking the drug, because it is still not possible to prevent the drug interaction from taking place in this case. . Another method is that the patient should consult with the treating doctor about switching to another drug that is equally effective and does not cause reactions when eating grapefruit while taking the drug.
The problems caused by the chemicals in grapefruit mentioned above can make the drug metabolism more abnormal, the drug can stay in the body for too long or metabolize too quickly, making the ingredients The part in the medicine does not have enough time to take effect.
Some prescription drugs that often interact with grapefruit are:
Antibiotics, cholesterol-lowering statins, high blood pressure drugs, cardiovascular drugs, drugs that block organ rejection, drugs for anxiety, drugs. seizure control Anti-motion sickness medication Erectile dysfunction medicine Hormone replacement medicine Cough medicine Pain reliever

Although eating grapefruit is very good for health because it adds a lot of vitamin C and potassium as well as other minerals and vitamins to the body, besides good nutrients, the composition of grapefruit also contains chemicals that affect the health of the body. Because of the effects of drug metabolism in the body, experts have recommended that grapefruit and drugs should not be eaten together to minimize dangerous health risks.
It is best before using any medicine, whether prescription or non-prescription, patients should also consult with doctors and experts so that the use of drugs becomes effective and safe for health. healthy yourself.

References: health.harvard.edu - mayoclinic.org - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov