Fwd: Grapefruit Juice & Allopathic Drugs

[Guest guest]

I thought this was interesting... I am not advising anyone to try lowering

their drug doses with grapefruit juice, but I thought this might be good

information to pass around...

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

Thought this might be of value...Khepri

 

 

GRAPEFRUIT JUICE AND DRUGS

 

The discovery that grapefruit juice could alter drug metabolism was the

serendipitous result of using the juice as part of a placebo preparation in a

drug test conducted in Canada (4). The drug felodipine (vasodilator,

diuretic; used for hypertension) was being evaluated for interactions with

alcohol. Alcohol did affect the way the drug functioned, resulting in more

side effects, mainly postural lightheadedness due to hypotension. The plasma

concentrations of the drug in the placebo group that had received grapefruit

juice rather than alcohol, were surprisingly high. The same researchers

then performed a follow-up study (5) using either grapefruit juice or orange

juice; the grapefruit juice increased the bioavailability of nifedipine

(similar to felodipine; both are calcium antagonists) by an average of 284%

(that is, there was nearly 3 times the amount in the blood of those who

consumed grapefruit juice as those who consumed water). Orange juice had no

such effect, indicating that it was a particular component of grapefruit

juice that was responsible for this marked effect.

 

In the 10 years that followed, numerous drugs were found to respond the same

way to grapefruit juice (100 medical journal articles around the world either

described new findings of drug interaction or reviewed the growing number of

cases). Adverse effects of combining grapefruit juice with drugs have been

reported for calcium antagonists (used for lowering blood pressure), the

benzodiazepines midazolam and triazolam (for depression), and terfenadine

(antihistamine for allergies). The adverse effects are due to the greatly

increased amount of drug in the bloodstream due to inhibited drug

metabolism. The intentional combination of grapefruit juice and a lowered

drug dose might yield a desired result of proper plasma levels of the drug

with lower amounts ingested (hence, lower drug costs): this is an area of

active research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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