Eating Grapefruit With Certain Drugs

Fresh grapefruit and grapefruit juice are refreshing, nutritious additions to any diet, but they can also result in potentially serious and harmful interactions with some drugs. If you're taking any prescription medications, it's worth learning more about how they might combine with grapefruit and how you can protect yourself from any negative effects.

Foods

Grapefruit isn't necessarily the only food that can cause negative drug interactions. Grapefruit juice will also have the same effects, and MayoClinic.com dietitian Katherine Zeratsky notes that even other citrus fruits can be potentially damaging. The American Chemical Society points out that you may have to avoid apple juice as well if your drugs react negatively with grapefruit.

Drug List

MayoClinic.com cites more than a dozen drugs that have known interactions with grapefruit and grapefruit juice, including buspirone for anxiety; amiodarone for heart arrhythmia; sertraline for depression; fexofenadine for allergies; saquinavir and indinavir for viral infections; carbamazepine for epilepsy; nifedipine, nimodipene and nisoldipene for calcium channel blockage; cyclosporine, tacrolimus and sirolimus for immunosuppression and simvastatin, lovastatin and atorvastatin for high cholesterol.

Effects

Grapefruit and its juice contain enzymes that break down medications in your digestive system and cause more of the medications to stay in your body. The result is increased absorption of medication to levels that can be dangerous. The final effects can range from drug toxicity to liver injury, headache, gastrointestinal issues and increase plasma concentration.

Guidelines

In a 2006 issue of "American Family Physician," researchers from the University of Alabama School of Medicine suggest avoiding grapefruit and grapefruit products for at least 72 hours after taking a medication that has known interactions with the fruit. People with certain conditions may need to avoid grapefruit altogether.

Considerations

No matter what type of prescription drug you take, discuss potential side effects and interactions with your physician before you begin taking the medication. If grapefruit is a regular part of your diet and you enjoy eating it, the University of Alabama researchers note that your physician may be able to prescribe an alternative to a medication you have to take that does react with the fruit.