Pharmaceutical health experts have cautioned Nigerians against the consumption of grapefruits or grapefruit juices with certain medications, noting that it could cause serious health complications.
The experts said while grapefruits are rich in vitamin C and potassium, which are good for the body, they also have enzymes and proteins which make them interact with some drugs.
They noted that this interaction could lead to cases of drug toxicity, blockage of drug absorption in the body, hypertension, cardiac arrest, muscle damage, and in extreme cases, death.
One of the experts, a pharmacist working with Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Lagos, Bunmi Adeyemi, explained that some drugs are not to be used with grapefruits.
According to Adeyemi, some of the drugs that grapefruits and grapefruit juices interact with are medicines used to treat high cholesterol in the body like atorvastatin, some blood pressure drugs like nifedipine, some steroids like budesonide, and some drugs that treat irregular heartbeat like heart arrhythmia, an example of which is amiodarone.
The pharmacist also explained that some drugs taken for cold and allergic reactions like fexofenadine react with grapefruit juices.
She noted that there were two main ways that grapefruit juices interacted with drugs.
“The first way is that many drugs are broken down or metabolised by important enzymes in the body. The name of the enzyme is CYP3A4 enzymes, they are found in the small intestine and help to metabolise and excrete drugs out of the system.
“Grapefruit can block these enzymes and when it blocks their action, they cannot metabolise the drugs as they should.
“When this fruit blocks the actions of these enzymes and the drugs cannot be metabolised, there will be a high concentration of these drugs in the system, which can lead to drug toxicity.
“What eventually occurs is that while the patient is taking the normal dose of the drug, it is coming up like an overdose since the body is not excreting it the way it is supposed to be excreted.
“For instance, with the drugs that help to lower blood pressure, if one takes a lot of grapefruits with it and it is blocking the enzyme that is supposed to metabolise it, one might end up having hypertension.
“The blood pressure can also drop really low, and one could go into a coma and in extreme cases, it could lead to death,” the pharmacist explained.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
