Blood Pressure and
Cholesterol Medications may have dangerous interactions when taken with
Grapefruit Juice
May 9th, 2006
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Researchers from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that some
prescription drugs can possibly cause dangerous interactions when taken
with grapefruit juice.
It was originally
believed that flavonoids from the grapefruit juice caused the
interactions; however the researchers believe that it is because of a
chemical called furanocoumarins that is found in the grapefruit which
contributes to the problem.
Grapefruit juice
causes some drugs to not be absorbed because an intestinal enzyme called
CYP3A partially destroys the medication before it is absorbed. The
researchers first reported there discovery in the May issue of the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The researchers
removed furanocoumarins from the grapefruit and were able to test if the
medications were absorbed. The drug that they tested was felodipine
which is an anti-hypertension drug that is known to interact with
grapefruit juice. They completed a randomized study with 18 healthy
participants. They each took 10 milligrams of felodipine along with one
of three different types of juices. They were either given orange
juice, regular grapefruit juice or the modified furanocoumarin-free
grapefruit juice. They measure the participant’s blood after 24 hours
to see how well the felodipine was absorbed into the body.
The participants
that took the orange juice and the modified furanocoumarin-free
grapefruit juice did not have an interaction with the felodipine when
the regular grapefruit juice did interact. By removing the
furanocoumarins from the grapefruit the drug was able to be absorbed.
The lead author,
Dr. Paul Watkins who is the Dr. Verne S. Caviness distinguished
professor of medicine and director of UNC's General Clinical Research
Center (GCRC) said, “First, it should now be possible to market the
furanocoumarin-free grapefruit juice to patients who would otherwise
need to avoid grapefruit. In addition, it should be possible to screen
new foods for the potential for drug interactions by determining whether
they contain furanocoumarins. Finally, it may be possible to add
furanocoumarins to formulations of certain drugs that tend to be poorly
or erratically absorbed to improve their oral delivery”
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