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Delicious Grapefruit Juice Causes Your Liver to 'Commit Suicide' - A Biochemical Allegory

Grapefruits evolved a defense mechanism against insects, microbes, and UV radiation. They achieve this by biosynthesizing a group of chemicals called furocoumarins, the most significant of which is bergamottin. That's great for the plant but not so much for people who are taking the meds and crave the juice. And it just so happens that the mechanism—the inhibition of key oxidative enzymes—that helps the plant protect itself is also responsible for drug-drug interactions in humans, but in an even more extreme way. Bergamottin doesn’t just inhibit oxidative enzymes (CYPs); it actually tricks them into destroying themselves. The biochemistry term "suicide enzyme inhibitor" is a fairly accurate…

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 I Ate Grapefruit Every Morning for a Week—Here’s What Happened

Grapefruit was once so popular that there was a diet centered around it, but was it worth the hype? One doctor decided to see for herself. Grapefruit benefits have been making headlines for nearly a century, largely thanks to the infamous “grapefruit diet” that originated in the 1930s. Also known as the Hollywood Diet, the Cleveland Clinic notes, the plan was based on the belief that grapefruit contained fat-burning enzymes. While that claim isn’t backed by science, people did see fast results—mostly because the diet called for extreme calorie restriction. These days, grapefruit has lost some of its glow.

 On Meds? You May Be Able to Eat Grapefruit Again Someday.

Scientists have identified a gene that causes production of a substance in some citrus that interferes with many medications. The problem is a set of molecules, furanocoumarins. High levels of furanocoumarins interfere with human liver enzymes, among other processes. In their presence, medications can build up to unhealthy levels in the body. And grapefruits and some related citrus fruits are full of them.

Articles of Interest

Grapefruit and medication: A cautionary note

Grapefruit can mean danger when combined with some popular drugs used for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression.

Grapefruit Could Be Seriously Messing with Your Meds

As it turns out, many of the drugs that don’t jive with grapefruit are shockingly popular. Beyond the mood-altering stuff (antidepressants like Zoloft and Seroquel, as well as commonly abused benzos such as Xanax and Valium), they include medications for HIV, birth control, heart arrhythmia, erectile dysfunction, and even over-the-counter ubiquities like Benadryl and Robitussin.

Grapefruit poses health risk to patients, warn scientists

Grapefruit poses a potentially lethal health risk to increasing numbers of patients taking prescription drugs, experts have warned. The fruit contains chemicals that can interact with certain drugs, making them more potent. Adverse effects can include acute kidney failure, respiratory failure, internal bleeding and sudden death. While it is well known that some patients should avoid grapefruit, or grapefruit juice, the list of drugs involved has risen sharply in recent years.

About The Buzz: Grapefruit Helps You Lose Weight?

The grapefruit diet, sometimes called the “Hollywood Diet,” has been around since the 1930’s. There are variations of the diet, but eating half a grapefruit prior to each meal to lose weight is the premise. At least two studies have been done to specifically test the effectiveness of grapefruit on weight loss.

Afternoon Snack: Why Grapefruit Could Be a Truly Slimming Snack

You've heard of the grapefruit diet, of course. But what was once believed to be a health fad, may have some real science behind it. Details...

All About Grapefruit!

Grapefruits are delicious, refreshing, and packed with nutrients! Best of all, they are currently plentiful and can help you fight...

Before grabbing a grapefruit, understand its power

Grapefruit looks sweet and friendly, but you might have heard it possesses powers far beyond those of ordinary produce.

Can a Grapefruit a Day Keep High Blood Pressure Away?

According to a 2012 study, grapefruit decreased blood pressure. This study lasted six weeks and looked at 74 adults who were overweight. They divided the group into two: a control group (those who didn’t have a grapefruit) and the study group (those who were given half a grapefruit per meal, so three times a day). They saw that the study group experienced weight loss, decrease in waist circumference, decrease in low-density lipoprotein and a decrease in their blood pressure.

Consumption of grapefruit is associated with higher nutrient intakes and diet quality among adults

Consumption of grapefruit was associated with higher intakes of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, dietary fiber, and improved diet quality. Grapefruit may provide a healthful option for adults striving to meet fruit recommendations.

Diet Danger

Grapefruit: perfectly delicious, diet-friendly fruit. The Grapefruit Diet? Gimmicky at best, and in a bizarre case, nearly deadly at worst.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Grapefruit in One Place

Of all the citrus fruits there are, most people are probably the most familiar with oranges, lemons and limes. But what about those big, softball-shaped, yellow-orange fruits that are always sitting next to them at the grocery store? We’re here to share all the information you need to know about the awesome grapefruit.

Five healthy diet staples that may interact with prescription drugs

To break down some prescription drugs in the body, the liver uses enzymes called cytochrome P450. But grapefruit juice contains chemical compounds called furanocoumarins which can block the action of these enzymes. If this happens, some drugs can accumulate in the body. Statins, often used to treat high cholesterol levels and prevent heart attacks and strokes, can also be affected by grapefruit juice through the same mechanism. Increased statin levels in the body can raise the risk of side-effects, including muscle breakdown, which is rare but serious.

Get In Pursuit Of The Magic Grapefruit

We've all heard of the grapefruit diet popularised in the 1930 in Hollywood and then spread across America. In 1929 it was known as the "eighteen-day diet", 18 days of grapefruit, orange, toast, vegetable and egg combinations, a brutal regime totalling approximately 500 calories. Did you know that grapefruit is known as the miracle fruit for it's many health benefits?

Grapefruit And Salt: The Science Behind This Unlikely Power Couple

Grapefruit's bitterness can make it hard to love. Indeed, people often smother it in sugar just to get it down. And yet Americans were once urged to sweeten it with salt. Ad campaigns from the first and second world wars tried to convince us that "Grapefruit Tastes Sweeter With Salt!" as one 1946 ad for Morton's in Life magazine put it. The pairing, these ads swore, enhanced the flavor.

Grapefruit juice and statins

Certain classes of drugs — most notably statins — are metabolized (broken down) in your intestines by an enzyme called CYP3A, which normally reduces the amount of drug that enters your bloodstream. Grapefruit juice contains compounds called furanocoumarins that stop CYP3A from doing its job. As a result, more of the drug is absorbed, making it more powerful than it's meant to be — even toxic in some cases.

Grapefruits Can Keep You Trim

Does the grapefruit diet really work? Grapefruit diets of all kinds have been promoted over the years, from those that include little more than grapefruit itself to others that promise you can shed 50 pounds in just a few weeks even while eating lots of other foods. Now, marketers for the grapefruit industry are renewing their efforts to prove the tangy citrus can help peel off the pounds.

No One Can Decide If Grapefruit Is Dangerous

The citrus can raise the level of dozens of drugs in the body—sometimes to a worrying degree, sometimes very much not. But for every grapefruit evangelist, there is a critic warning of its dangers—probably one with a background in pharmacology. The fruit, for all its tastiness and dietetic appeal, has another, more sinister trait: It raises the level of dozens of FDA-approved medications in the body, and for a select few drugs, the amplification can be potent enough to trigger a life-threatening overdose.

The Citrus Sensation: Why Grapefruit Should Be In Your Diet

Grapefruit is a delicious and nutritious fruit that can be added to your diet. It's low in calories, provides plenty of vitamin C, helps you feel fuller for longer, and may even lower blood pressure. If you're looking for ways to improve your health, consider adding grapefruits or other citrus fruits to your daily meals!

The grapefruit: an old wine in a new glass? Metabolic and cardiovascular perspectives

Grapefruit is a popular, tasty and nutritive fruit enjoyed globally. Biomedical evidence in the last 10 years has, however, shown that consumption of grapefruit or its juice is associated with drug interactions, which, in some cases, have been fatal. Grapefruit-induced drug interactions are unique in that the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP3A4, which metabolises over 60% of commonly prescribed drugs as well as other drug transporter proteins such as P-glycoprotein and organic cation transporter proteins, which are all expressed in the intestines, are involved. H

The Happy Accident of Grapefruit

Most of the fruit we eat has been growing somewhere on the planet for millennia just waiting for humans to discover it. One tasty citrus fruit, on the other hand, was the unlikely love child of oranges and pomelos somewhere on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Love it or leave it, the sweet and sour flavor of grapefruit is a breakfast staple the world over. The sour citrus tang of this pink-on-the-inside cousin of the orange is a flavor found in everything from candy to cocktails. For many people, the health benefits of eating grapefruit are what make this softball-sized fruit a dietary staple.

The Health Benefits of Grapefruit

The name might inspire images from 1960s diet culture- the grapefruit diet, anyone!?- to delicious palomas on the beach. The grapefruit is beautiful, delicious, and incredibly nutritious. Both in whole fruit form and in cold-pressed juice form, grapefruits pack a healthful punch. One whole grapefruit, or its equivalent juice, provides your entire recommended daily intake of Vitamin C.

What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Grapefruit Regularly

Sweet, tangy grapefruit is the youngest sibling in the citrus family. Did you know it’s a cross between a pomelo and a sweet orange? While people have been cultivating lemons, limes and oranges for thousands of years, the grapefruit came to us from the beautiful tropical island of Barbados in the 1600s. And we’ve been enjoying it ever since.

What Really Happens If You Eat Grapefruit With Your Medication?

Find out if you should swap out your regular breakfast—and if other fruits pose a risk too.

Why Does Grapefruit Mess With Your Medicine?

The juicy fruit can cause negative side effects with a number of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Resources

10 Benefits of Grapefruit, Plus Facts and Nutrition

You may need to avoid or limit grapefruit, its juice, and supplements if you take medications that lower blood pressure or cholesterol. The compounds in grapefruit may cause your body to absorb too little or too much of these medications