Grapefruit drug reaction link found

Last updated at 14:40 18 May 2006


Patients on certain medications may soon be allowed grapefruit juice with their breakfast.

Those using drugs to control their blood pressure and lower cholesterol have long been told to avoid the fruit, as studies have shown it can lead to possible overdoses and dangerous side effects.

But now scientists have discovered the element which causes the fruit to interact badly with some drugs.

The culprits are not flavonoids which give the juice a bitter taste as was once thought. Instead it is a group of chemicals called

furanocoumarins.

US scientists carried out tests with felodipine, a blood pressure drug known to interact with grapefruit juice.

They compared the ability of whole grapefruit juice to affect the absorption of felodipine with that of furanocoumarin-free juice.

"We found that removing the furanocoumarins from grapefruit juice entirely got rid of this interaction," said lead researcher Professor Paul Watkins.

"It should now be possible to market the furanocoumarin-free grapefruit juice to patients who would otherwise need to avoid grapefruit."

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