Why are you not supposed to drink grapefruit juice with some medications?

It may seem unbelievable that something as seemingly healthy as grapefruit juice could potentially be so dangerous. So then, the science behind the dangers of mixing grapefruit with certain medications is as follows:

There is an enzyme (CYP3A) in the intestines and liver that helps the body absorb oral medications and excrete them when finished. When a prescription is written it is based on the assumption that by the size of your body the drug will be absorbed and excreted from your body at a certain rate. Grapefruit juice has been shown to affect this enzyme and the rate of medication being absorbed and removed from the body, the end result of that affect being an overdose of the drug, even if the correct dosage is taken.

Hear are some of the medications that interact with grapefruit but this is by no means a complete list so make sure that you ask your doctor about this before beginning any medications if you are a grapefruit lover.

•Norvasc or Amlodipine is used to treat angina. Grapefruit juice interacts with many of the medications used to treat the heart.

•Valium ,also known as Diazepam, is a seizure and anxiety medication that has a bad reaction to grapefruit juice.

•Pravachol, also called Pravastatin, is used to lower cholesterol, along with many other “statin” medications whose effectiveness can be altered by grapefruit juice.

Use of any of these drugs while drinking grapefruit juice or eating grapefruit can lead to serious side effects. For example, the following have been observed while researching the effect of grapefruit juice on the drugs listed above.

•Valium with grapefruit juice can cause you to feel as if you have been sedated, sluggish and tired.

•Norvasc is affected by grapefruit juice in that it causes a very fast heart rate, and causes blood pressure to drop to an unsafe level. This is a similar reaction to many heart medications that are combined with grapefruit juice.

•Pravachol and other “statin” drugs with grapefruit juice can cause muscle toxicity, which includes muscle weakness, tremors, and aches


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