FYI Grapefruit juice can be fatal (when mixed with meds)

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dullard

dullard

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May 21, 2001
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Yes. Grapefruit especially and sometimes pineapple (and to a lesser extent citrus in general). If people would only read their medication sheets that come with their prescriptions those fruit are often called out to not eat when taking specific drugs.

Dairy products and alcohol are also frequent on the list of foods that interfere with medication.
 
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Brainonska511

Brainonska511

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Yep, grapefruit juice contains a compound that is a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor. CYP3A4 is involved in a large amount of drug metabolism, so inhibition of it means other medications will effectively have a higher doses than normal in your blood. Particularly dangerous with drugs that have a narrow therapeutic index.
 
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Brainonska511

Brainonska511

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dullard said:
Yes. Grapefruit especially and sometimes pineapple (and to a lesser extent citrus in general). If people would only read their medication sheets that come with their prescriptions those fruit are often called out to not eat when taking specific drugs.

Dairy products and alcohol are also frequent on the list of foods that interfere with medication.
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They don't even have to read them in detail. The most pertinent information is summarized right on the first page of the prescribing information.
 
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pmv

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May 30, 2008
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I thought it was well-known that grapefruit juice reduces the effectiveness of many kinds of medication? Can't say I've ever bothered to check which meds exactly, as I don't like grapefruit juice.

I don't know that those information sheets that come with medications are that useful. Seems to me they overdo it, by listing every possible effect that anyone has ever reported. I swear I remember having one where one of the "uncommon" side-effects listed was "unexpected sudden death".
 
Brainonska511

Brainonska511

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pmv said:
I thought it was well-known that grapefruit juice reduces the effectiveness of many kinds of medication? Can't say I've ever bothered to check which meds exactly, as I don't like grapefruit juice.

I don't know that those information sheets that come with medications are that useful. Seems to me they overdo it, by listing every possible effect that anyone has ever reported. I swear I remember having one where one of the "uncommon" side-effects listed was "unexpected sudden death".
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They list the most common and the rarer, but clinically relevant effects. They definitely don't list everything - usually only those observed in >5-10% of patients for "common". I've seen the clinical trial reports that have everything: you can easily have 20-30 pages of tables of adverse events (of any cause, not just presumed relates to treatment).
 
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Denly

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May 14, 2011
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Isn't juice of all kinds - even 100% pure juices - are not good for your body? Might as well skip juices altogether.
 
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pmv

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Denly said:
Isn't juice of all kinds - even 100% pure juices - are not good for your body? Might as well skip juices altogether.
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One of those "in moderation" things, no? They do have vitamins and stuff. I used to drink a _lot_ of fruit juice (because they always seemed to have some sort of multi-buy offer), but cut it out simply because it dawned on me how many calories it was. The result is I now drink much more coffee instead.
 
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dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

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Denly said:
Isn't juice of all kinds - even 100% pure juices - are not good for your body? Might as well skip juices altogether.
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They're relatively high in sugar, that's all. Good nutrients, same as fruit. But check the serving size (100ml? 150ml?) and realize that that's a serving of fruit. Draining a pint glass of OJ with breakfast is basically your entire allocation of fruit (and sugar) for the day.

In most cases, you're better off eating a piece of fruit, and getting the fiber from it, than just drinking an equivalent amount of that fruits juice. (Unless you have teeth/chewing issues.) Glycemic index - a measurement of how quickly sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream - is also generally higher for juices and is of concern for diabetics.

Juice isn't bad for you, it's just a sometimes food.

I find various kinds of juice are particularly great with vodka and/or rum.
 
brianmanahan

brianmanahan

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Sep 2, 2006
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oh yeah, i haven't eaten or drank grapefruit in 25 years because of the meds i take

not that i really ever liked it much anyway. i needed to put sugar on it just to be able to eat it.
 
Iron Woode

Iron Woode

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There are something like 100 medications that grapefruit interferes with.

I love grapefruit but due to issues with my medications I don't have it any more. I miss grapefruit.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

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Feb 26, 2006
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I thought this was common knowledge. MANY medications are reactive to/with grapefruit juice. Kind of breaks my heart...I LOVE grapefruit juice...by itself or as a mixer...and I take Lipitor (atorvastatin), one of the drugs on the "do not drink grapefruit juice with these medications" list.
 
IronWing

IronWing

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nakedfrog said:
I didn't know there were so many grapefruit juice fans out there.
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We have our own grapefruit tree (oro blanco, a grapefruit - pomelo cross). The fruit is delicious though yield is too low to juice. Our previous abode had a white grapefruit tree that produces bushels of fruit, which we juiced until we could juice no more and we gave away the rest. The flavor wasn't as good as the oro blanco is but still quite tasty.
 
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A///

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A///

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IronWing said:
We have our own grapefruit tree (oro blanco, a grapefruit - pomelo cross). The fruit is delicious though yield is too low to juice. Our previous abode had a white grapefruit tree that produces bushels of fruit, which we juiced until we could juice no more and we gave away the rest. The flavor wasn't as good as the oro blanco is but still quite tasty.
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quite like a good pomelo! grapefruit is not something I indulge in often. If I do I get any variety known for its sweetness rather than its bitterness. When I lived in Georgia with my then wife the state I mean we had easy access to florida ruby reds. Perfect balance of sweet and tart with a hint of bitter. It was quite cheap too!
 
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