Why use harmful medications with grapefruit?

An unhappy news for those who like to drink grapefruit juice with this medicine: this fruit when used with medication may be harmful to health.

Eating pomelos the wrong way can turn into 'poison'

Actually this is not the first time people have discovered this. Previously, doctors also knew that this fruit could cause serious effects on pharmaceuticals. But so far scientists have been able to explain why pomelos are against drugs .

Grapefruit juice contains furanocoumarin - a substance that seems to affect the absorption of human pharmaceuticals.

According to scientists at North Carolina University, unlike mandarin oranges, grapefruit juice contains furanocoumarin - a substance that seems to affect the absorption of human pharmaceuticals , including drugs that reduce it. cholesterol, some antihistamines, some anti-erection drugs and drugs that lower blood pressure.

Normally these drugs will be partially blocked from entering the body by an intestinal enzyme process. However furanocoumarin will hinder this enzyme process from working, allowing a toxic part of the drug into the human body to harm the body parts.

In their study, researchers at the University of North Carolina gave volunteers felodipine (a drug that lowers blood pressure). Among these volunteers, one group took medicine with orange juice, one group drank with grapefruit juice and one group drank with grapefruit juice that eliminated the furanocoumarin.

Measuring the amount of pharmaceuticals in the patient's blood, the scientists found that those who drank grapefruit had eliminated the furanocoumarin that had a normal amount of pharmaceuticals and equaled this amount in the blood of those who drank orange juice, while the disease Patients taking grapefruit juice increased 420% of felodipine in the blood at the same time.

The results of this study were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This is the best evidence that furanocoumarin is an active ingredient in grapefruit water that causes interaction with pharmaceuticals.

Determining this chemical may lead to the identification of other foods that contain furanocoumarin that may cause an effect on pharmaceuticals. In addition, with drugs that are not easily absorbed by the body, furanocoumarin can be added to the pill to help the body's absorption process better.

Note when eating grapefruit

Do not eat when taking some medicines

Health experts recommend that patients are taking drugs, especially medicines for the elderly , it is best not to eat grapefruit and drink grapefruit juice.

For people with high blood fat, if a cup of grapefruit juice is used to take a slimming pill, it can lead to muscle pain, even kidney disease.

Some patients during certain anti-allergy medications , if eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice, can cause mild headaches, heart palpitations, arrhythmias, etc., can lead to serious sudden death.

In addition, some ingredients when combined with grapefruit can cause side effects such as Cyclosporine, caffeine, calcium antagonist, Cisapride . Drink a glass of grapefruit juice, along with the ingredients contained in The drug may cause side effects if used together within 24 hours.

The best way, when using certain drugs, especially those of the above groups, should ask the doctor directly to see if you can use grapefruit.

Do not eat immediately after drinking, smoking

Usually, after 48 hours, stop smoking, drinking new alcohol should eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice. Because grapefruit contains Pyranocoumarin, which enhances the metabolism of cytochromes P450 (intestinal yeast), it causes such effects: Increasing toxicity of tobacco, nicotine and ethanol, is harmful to health. So do not eat grapefruit after using these stimulants.

People with diarrhea and poor digestion should not eat

Grapefruit is cold , making it more serious for people with diarrhea. Therefore, if the weak person should not eat much grapefruit. Usually people only use grapefruit to cool down, lowering too will cause symptoms of abdominal pain .