Grapefruits

Grapefruits

Taking a prescription cholesterol drug? Stay away from grapefruit, which contains an enzyme that can negate the drug’s effects. Drinking Grapefruit juice while taking some prescription medications can cause instant overdose and death.

Persons taking certain prescription drugs have to be careful what fruit they consume. Eating a grapefruit, which is a good source of Vitamin C, can become life-threatening. Since the grapefruit contains compounds which change how your body metabolizes certain drugs, the body can absorb larger amounts of the drug than is beneficial, which can cause medical problems and death.

Grapefruit can cause dangerous reactions with some prescription medications. From the New York Times, last year: "For 43 of the 85 drugs now on the list, consumption with grapefruit can be life-threatening, Dr. Bailey said. Many are linked to an increase in heart rhythm, known as torsade de pointes, that can lead to death."

"Under normal circumstances, the drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract, and relatively little is absorbed, because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 deactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, that inhibit the enzyme, and without it the gut absorbs much more of a drug and blood levels rise dramatically."