Grapefruit juice helps increase the effectiveness of cancer drugs

Scientists at the University of Chicago Medical School (USA) have discovered grapefruit juice may help increase the effectiveness of treatment for cancer drugs.

This result was obtained after they studied 25 patients with hard tumors that doctors have no effective treatment for these tumors. Patients receive 15 to 35 mg of cancer treatment once a week. After the first week, patients continued to receive a combination of medication and then immediately drink a glass of grapefruit juice (more than 200ml) for several days. With such treatment, 7 patients with stable disease ie unresolved or less developed tumors, a patient who responded positively, tumors decreased by 30%. However, over 50% of these patients suffer from side effects such as increased blood sugar, diarrhea, decreased white blood cells and fatigue.

According to the team, grapefruit juice contains furanocoumarins, which reduces the destruction of rafamycin and increases the level of anticancer drugs in the blood by three to four times, thus helping the drug approach cancer cells. more letters.