Be Wary of Grapefruits

Many people are not aware that grapefruits and grapefruit juice can have negative interactions with certain medications. While in the past the list of medications with possible interactions was short, a new study shows many more medicines have potentially dangerous side effects.

How could grapefruits be bad? Grapefruits have active chemicals that act synergistically with certain medications. That is, they can boost the effect of the medicine by putting a much higher amount of the active chemical into the bloodstream. For example, drinking grapefruit juice in conjunction with the drug symvastatin (a common cholesterol medication) led to a concentration of symvastatin 330% higher than normal. Drugs such as symvastatin can have potentially dangerous side effects without this synergy, making the drug especially dangerous when taken with grapefruit.

I always recommend that patients take a minute and talk to there pharmacist to review any and all medications they are taking. Pharmacists are often under-utilized by the public and can be a great asset to evaluate any negative effects of medications. To read more about grapefruits interaction with certain medications, follow this link.

If you have any questions regarding this topic, feel free to call our office at (847) 673-6600 or visit us on the web at www.HealingHandsOfSkokie.com!