![]() It is uncertain as to whether the same concerns hold for ingesting the actual fruit as they do for the juice of the grapefruit. ![]() The latest report suggests that the effects can range from complete nullification of a drug effect as in clopidogrel to boosting the effects of the drug simvastatin to as much as 330% in the human bloodstream. Does ingesting a grapefruit amount to the same interaction as drinking the juice? It seems that the juice would represent a more toxic cocktail of furanocoumarins, which are the nasty little compounds found in grapefruit as well as Seville oranges and limes, that inhibit the concentration of cytochrome p450 3A4. I wish I'd known 20 years ago what I know now, but questions still linger. The grapefruit-juice "effect" can last up to 72 hours. With the latest information on drug-grapefruit interactions, depending on which medications he was taking, this was really bad advice. As Shakespeare would have aptly put it, "His countenance fell," because he loved grapefruit and loudly lamented he'd "greatly miss it." I told him to at least wait a few hours after he took his morning meds to partake of any components of the fruit. "It is probably better to just avoid grapefruit juice altogether," I said. ![]() I told him truthfully that I'd heard of a few case reports and some theories that floated around from time to time. ![]() A few years ago, a patient asked me if I knew anything about grapefruit juice and drug interactions. ![]()
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