There’s been a spate of recent headlines reporting that many drugs can have a dangerous, even lethal interaction with grapefruit juice. But grapefruit juice is not the only food or drink that can hurt you when you’re taking medications. National wellness expert Dr. Erika Schwartz tells Newsmax Health about ways to avoid dangerous food and drug combinations.
The news that as many as 85 medications interact with grapefruit and grapefruit juice, 42 of which are potentially life-threatening, underscores the importance of paying careful attention to what we eat and the medications we take, national wellness expert Dr. Erika Schwartz says.
“Unfortunately, it seems to be that grapefruit juice causes a ton of problems,” she tells Newsmax Health. “It either increases the amount of drugs that you are taking or it makes them ineffective.”
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Grapefruit apparently interferes with an enzyme responsible for metabolizing many medications, and the result is too much or too little of the drug in your bloodstream. Among some of the medications that can interact with grapefruit are cholesterol-lowering statins and drugs for blood pressure and migraine headaches.
“I think the lesson really to be learned is first of all, read the label,” Dr. Schwartz advises. “Second of all, work with a doctor who actually knows something about you … Finally, fewer drugs and not overdoing the same food.”
Consulting with your pharmacist and reading all the information accompanying prescriptions also is critically important.
What’s more, rethinking how much caffeine and alcohol we consume as we age also is key, because they, too, can impact the effect of medications.
“As we get older, our bodies are unable to metabolize drugs in general,” she says. “And continuing to drink alcohol and caffeine will interfere with our bodies’ ability to metabolize foods and absorb the good stuff, and in the case of medications, increase their negative side effects.”
“As we get older our bodies cannot tolerate them the same way we did when we were 20.”
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