Grapefruit and its juice are amazing nutritious additions to your diet. However, they can interact with different medications, making them less or more effective and resulting in various side effects. This article covers 7 medications that don’t mix well with grapefruit and its juice.
Allegra (Fexofenadine)
Allegra is an antihistamine that lets you enjoy the spring air without watery eyes and a stuffy nose. However, research shows that grapefruit reduces the availability of fexofenadine, Allegra’s active agent.
Statins (Lipitor, Mecavor, and Zocor)
Drinking grapefruit juice after taking cholesterol-lowering statins such as atorvastatin (Lipitor) and simvastatin (Zocor) can retain too much of the drug in your body and increase your liver and muscle damage risk.
Organ Transplant Rejection Drugs (Neoral and Sandimmune)
Combining immunosuppressants such as cyclosporine (Neoral and Sandimmune) with grapefruit can increase how long or much the medication stays in your system. This can result in higher medication levels that cause organ damage.
Drugs for Abnormal Heart Rhythms (Cordarone, Nexterone, and Pacerone)
Grapefruit juice inhibits the CY3A4 enzyme, which can increase absorption when you take abnormal heart medications. For instance, mixing grapefruit with drugs like amiodarone can cause possible worsening of arrhythmias, drug toxicity, and dizziness.
Antihypertensives (Procardia, Adalat, Plendil, and Afeditab CR)
According to one study, grapefruit increases the bioavailability of antihypertensive drugs like nifedipine and slows gastric emptying. This can lead to extreme lowered blood pressure, which causes falls or dizziness.
Viagra (Sildenafil)
In 2002, researchers confirmed that grapefruit and the erectile dysfunction (ED) medication Viagra shouldn’t mix. As a result of its impact on the CYP3A4 enzyme, grapefruit could make this impotence drug more potent.
While this may sound appealing to some men, it could result in problematic symptoms such as flushing, headaches, or low blood pressure. Research also shows that the combination of Viagra and grapefruit juice could become toxic.
Psychiatric Drugs (Zoloft, Valium, Halcyon, Versed, and Tegratol)
According to research, grapefruit’s enzyme-blocking mechanism can affect antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers and raise the risk of potentially dangerous interactions.
Older studies have also discovered that the fruit increased the concentration of Zoloft (sertraline) and Valium (diazepam) in the subject’s blood, which resulted in intense side effects such as drowsiness and dizziness.
Conclusion
You must consult your doctor when taking grapefruits while using your medications. Even if you can’t eat grapefruit, other delicious citrus alternatives exist, such as oranges, peaches, and tangerines.
