Why Grapefruit Juice Interacts With Drugs

[Hum]

(HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've identified the substances in grapefruit juice that can produce unwanted side effects when the juice is taken with certain drugs. The discovery may make it possible to offer grapefruit juice that is free of these substances, called furanocoumarins, or add them to drugs to boost their effect, the researchers say.

People are routinely told by their doctors to avoid drinking grapefruit juice while taking a variety of medications because of potentially dangerous side effects. For instance, the beverage should be avoided when taking certain blood-pressure or cholesterol - lowering drugs, as well as HIV medications, organ-transplant drugs and sedatives.

The reason: Grapefruit juice can cause these drugs to enter the blood stream more efficiently, thereby increasing the dose and effect -- and the potential for undesirable and even dangerous side effects.

"What this study shows is that if you leave all that stuff in and take out a group of substances called furanocoumarins, you get rid of this property of the juice," Watkins said.

The study findings appear in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Furanocoumarins could be added to certain drugs to improve their "bioavailability," or ability to enter the blood stream.

One expert thinks that adding furanocoumarins to medications might be the most important potential development to come out of this study.

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[bdsams Veteran]

first thing that popped into my mind, would be pain meds, ad this to advil or tylenol and getting working faster

[Fred Derf Veteran]

A friend of my dad's got his paper published when he found that fiddleheads did something similar.