Why shouldn't you drink juice while taking madicine?

[Tilda]

Hey!

 

Just wondering if anyone knew why it is that citrate intake shouldn't be combined with medicine intake?

 

For instance:

 

When / if you take Link tablets against ulcers you shouldn't drink fruit juices as well, since this will cause an elevated uptake of aluminium (that's partially what Link is made of).

 

or...

 

If you take Felodipine (against high bloodpressure also known as Arterial Hypertension) it specifically says NOT to drink GRAPE juice. Anyone know why? I suppose it has to do with the citrate-concentration, but I don't know.

 

How does one harm the other I wonder.

 

Thankful for any answers//

 

Tilda

[Phi for All]

I had heard that many hospitals have taken grapefruit and grapefruit juice off their menus because it contains compounds which may inhibit certain pathways in the intestinal walls. This was the reason it became popular with some dieters, but I believe it may decrease the effectiveness of certain medications.

 

I have not heard whether all citrus products do this, only grapefruit was mentioned in the articles I saw.

[Bio-Hazard]

The citrus fruit, grapefruit, is a very interesting one.

It has the ability to give some types of medications double the effect.

 

Take viagra for instance.

 

Studies have shown that if you take one viagra and drink grapefruit juice, it will be as if you took in two viagra pills.

 

I use to drink grapefruit juice in the mornings with my pills.

However, I don't really remember it doing much.. maybe it felt 125% stronger.

 

Here's a link that might aid you in your quest for knowledge.

 

You know, I come back to this thread and I think...

How many people interpreted this as if I take viagra...

heh, i don't take viagra, i take other medications.

[Tilda]

Thank you guys for the help!//

 

Tilda

[senexa]

Each medicine is very different in how in interacts with juice, milk, food, alcohol, etc., so you should always check on the specific medicine's properties and warnings.

 

Here's a great resource for doing just that:

 

http://www.rxlist.com/

[Drug addict]

Grapefruit juice inhibts cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver, which is the route by which most drugs are metabolised. So, if you drink grapefruit juice, you'll get higher plasma concentrations of the drug. In a lot of cases this isn't a problem, but with some drugs it can be very serious, or even fatal, such as terfenadine.

 

Here's a list of drugs that are affected by grapefruit juice:

 

http://www.bnf.org/bnf/bnf/current/noframes/41001i829.htm