Eating grapefruit can cause fatal organ failure for the millions of British who use common drugs to treat a large number of disorders, such as high cholesterol and an irregular heartbeat, has warned a medic.
BBC Morning Live Regular Dr Xand van Tulleken said that people who use certain drugs should be careful with eating the fruit, as well as his juice or jam, because it could disrupt medication days after consumption.
“If you eat grapefruit and you use drugs regularly, you should definitely have an alertness and an acquaintance of what is going on, because Grapefruit can be dangerous,” he said in a recent appearance of the television.
This is because an organic connection in the fruit deactivates an enzyme in the intestines that breaks down the medicine.
Dr. Van Tulleken said that this could have serious consequences, which leads to a potentially dangerous structure of the drug in the body.
'When we take medication, our body breaks them down so that we can separate them harmless after they have worked – so grapefruit can either stop breaking down the medicines, so that you have a very high dose and that can have quite toxic effects, “He said.
He mentioned the cholesterol medication statins, blood pressure medication, psychiatric medication, immunosuppressants such as those used by organ donation patients and medicines that regulate a fast heart, called antiarrhythmic, only a few examples.
'Half a glass [of grapefruit juice] Can be enough to change the way you process that medicine for many days, “he added.
BBC Morning Live Regular Dr Xand van Tulleken said that people who use certain drugs needed to be careful with eating grapefruit and it is juice or jam
“I would say that if you regularly check medicine with your pharmacist, check with your doctor before you eat a grapefruit.”
Grapefruit contains connections called Furanocoumarins that can disrupt an enzyme in the small intestine, called CYP3A4.
This enzyme is responsible for breaking down almost half of all medicines, so that they can be absorbed correctly by the body.
The extent to which Furanocoumarines influence medication varies depending on the amount of CYP3A4 that someone produces, the exact used medicine and the precise amount of grapefruit that a patient eats or drinks.
With statins, grapefruit can lead to too much of the medicine being released in the bloodstream and lasts longer before the body breaks down, resulting in a more powerful dose and increases the risk of side effects.
On the milder side, this can lead to an increased risk of headache, dizziness, muscle pain and fatigue.
But in more extreme cases this can lead to liver, muscle damage and kidney failure.
Studies suggest that not much grapefruit is needed to have a powerful impact on how the body processes medication.
Grapefruit contains connections called furanocoumarines that interfere with an enzyme in the small intestine that breaks down medicines for the body to absorb
Only a single glass of juice can reduce the production of CYP3A4 by a maximum of 47 percent.
Furanocoumarins can also stay in the body and inhibit the enzyme for up to 24 hours after a person consumes grapefruit.
And it's not just grapefruit. Some closely related fruits also have a similar effect.
These include Sevel oranges, often used to make orange marmalade, pomelos and tangelos, a cross between mandarins and grapefruit.
Dr. Van Tulleken also warned of the impact that foods rich in vitamin K found in vegetables such as broccoli and spinach can have the generally prescribed blood thinner warfarin.
Vitamin K helps blood clot, so it can prevent warfarin, which is prescribed to prevent these clots and to reduce the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Van Tulleken said that patients on warfarin should manage their vitamin K rich food and have to eat a little all week instead of a huge intake in a single day.
However, he added 'consistency' to the intake of vitamin K was the key, advice displayed by the NHS.
Mixing food, drinks and some herbal remedies with medicines can cause a range of side effects
The Health Service does not recommend specific safe intake of vitamin K for patients taking warfarin.
Instead, it emphasizes that patients must keep their diet stable because their warfarin recipe will be linked to compensate for their vitamin K -intake and to ensure that the medicine still works.
Patients on warfarin who want to change their diet considerably, for example to lose weight, have to talk to their medical team before they do this.
They are still advised to eat vitamin K food products, instead of completely avoiding them, because it helps help heal wounds with vital physical functions such as helping wounds.
Other foods rich in vitamin K are chickpeas, liver, egg yolks, some cheeses, avocados and olive oil.
