When taking certain medication, be sure to avoid eating grapefruit and drinking grapefruit juice. While grapefruit is delicious and has many health benefits, it can interact with some common medication, causing serious side effects. It doesn’t take much either, as one-half grapefruit or a single glass of grapefruit juice is enough to cause this. And the effect can last for several days.
Medications are processed in your liver and small intestine by a group of proteins called cytochromes. Cytochromes break down medications, thereby reducing their levels. Grapefruit, as well as Seville oranges, tangelos, pomelos, and Minneolas, contain naturally-occurring compounds called furanocoumarins. Furanocoumarins can disrupt the activity of cytochromes. By slowing down the breakdown of medicines, grapefruit can increase the levels of these medications in your blood, thereby increasing their side effects.
Here are 33 common medications that can interact with grapefruit:
Some cholesterol medications:
- Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
- Lovastatin (Mevacor)
- Simvastatin (Zocor)
- Felodipine
- Nifedipine (Procardia)
- Losartan (Cozaar)
- Eplerenone (Inspra)
- Amiodarone
- Dronedarone (Multaq)
- Erythromycin
- Rilpivirine and related HIV drugs
- Primaquine and related antimalarial drugs
- Albendazole
- Bupropion (Wellbutrin)
- Quetiapine (Seroquel)
- Lurasidone (Latuda)
- Ziprasidone (Geodon)
- Buspirone (Buspar)
- Diazepam (Valium)
- Midazolam (Versed)
- Triazolam (Halcion)
- Apixaban (Eliquis)
- Rivaroxaban (Xarelto)
- Clopidogrel (Plavix)
- Ticagrelor (Brilinta)
- Clopidogrel
- Fentanyl
- Oxycodone
- Colchicine
- Sildenafil (Viagra)
- Tadalafil (Cialis)
- Tamsulosin (Flomax)
- Silodosin (Rapaflo)
