Delicious grapefruit should be eaten with caution during medication

This newspaper news (reporter Liu Rong correspondent Peng Qinping) Just when grapefruit is on the market, the origin of the grapefruit efficacy of the publicity spared no effort, consumers' preference for grapefruit has also triggered a wave of consumption boom. Doctors remind that although grapefruit is delicious, people eat grapefruit when taking some drugs, which may affect the efficacy and even health of the medicine.

Mr. Wang, who is nearly sixty years old, has been taking immunosuppressant drugs after a certain operation a few years ago, and regularly goes to the hospital to check whether the drug concentration in the blood is qualified. Recently, when he went to Qianpu Hospital for examination, he was found to have a significantly high concentration of drugs in his blood. The doctor asked him if he had taken medicine or other medicines as prescribed, and what food he had recently eaten. Mr. Wang told the doctor that the medicine has been taken strictly according to the doctor's advice, but now that the grapefruit is on the market in large quantities, he will eat half a day. The doctor's diagnosis is likely that the grapefruit affected the efficacy of the drug, and asked Mr. Wang to stop eating grapefruit for a few days before checking the blood. As a result, after a few days of re-examination, Mr. Wang's blood indicators returned to normal.

Huang Bingfeng, chief physician of the Department of Internal Medicine of Xiamen Qianpu Hospital, introduced that the cases of grapefruit affecting the efficacy of the drug have been seen from time to time, and some people have eaten more grapefruit after taking antihypertensive drugs, resulting in chest tightness, panic, fatigue and low blood pressure, almost inducing stroke. This is because the active ingredient in grapefruit can inhibit the activity of certain metabolic enzymes in the liver, so that the body's ability to metabolize drugs is reduced, resulting in taking the same antihypertensive drug, and the actual antihypertensive effect is enhanced, resulting in hypotension. Others, such as anti-anxiety or sedatives, anti-allergic drugs, immunosuppressants, etc., eaten with grapefruit, will lead to the accumulation of drugs in the body to increase the probability of liver damage; will prolong the residence time of the drug in the body caused by dizziness and drowsiness and other sequelae; will aggravate the adverse reactions of anti-allergic drugs to the heart, liver and gastrointestinal tract. When grapefruit is taken with immunosuppressants, the blood concentration of immunosuppressants such as cyclosporine can be increased, thereby increasing liver and kidney toxicity. Therefore, for safety reasons, it is best to avoid eating grapefruit for three days before taking the drug and for six hours after taking the drug. If you do not know which medications cannot be taken with grapefruit, you should consult your doctor first to avoid affecting the efficacy and health of the drug.

Source: Xiamen Daily