Grapefruit juice and drugs
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Researchers have identified the substance in grapefruit juice responsible for interfering with how drugs are absorbed in the human body, according to a small study in the May American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The compound, furanocoumarin, interferes with an intestinal enzyme called CYP3S, which partially destroys drugs as they are absorbed, Mary Paine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., et al., state. As a result, the body absorbs more of the drug. Paine et al. administered a single dose of the Rx blood pressure drug Plendil to 18 men and women along with either normal grapefruit juice, furanocoumarin-free grapefruit juice or orange juice. In each volunteer, the normal grapefruit juice resulted in between 6% and 230% more Plendil in the blood, unlike the other two interventions...