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Grapefruit Interactions with
Medications
When on medications, you've been
told not to drink grapefruit juice. Why?
The
citrus fruit inhibits intestinal enzymes that
metabolize many medications. In order to
be used by the body, these drugs need certain enzymes
to be absorbed and used. If the enzyme
cannot be used, the drug will stay in your system and
increase the concentration of them in the blood.
These
enzymes are needed to metabolize cholesterol-reducing
drugs such as Lipitor, Zocor, and Mevacor among
others. It is the same with drugs commonly used
to lower blood pressure such as Norvasc, Adalat,
Procardia, Isoptin, and Calan. This is
also true for antihistamines and some psychiatric
drugs such as Valium, Xanax, Luvox, Ambien, etc.
etc.
The effect of the
Grapefruit lasts 24 hours or more. Rarely,
the concentrations of drugs in the bloodstream can
increase to toxic levels.
If you do want to use drugs for physical
conditions, do check with your pharmacist. They
have a database where the drug can be checked and any
interactions can be found.
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