Many friends will ask: Is there any what taboo for hypertension?
In the public mind, Western medicine seems to mention little [taboo] compared with traditional Chinese medicine. However, for friends who take antihypertensive drugs for a long time, there is one kind of fruit that really needs to be careful. This kind of fruit is grapefruit.
Grapefruit, also known as grapefruit, is a truly healthy fruit, but scientists discovered in the 1990s that eating grapefruit and drinking grapefruit juice may lead to a significant increase in the blood concentration of some antihypertensive drugs in the body, causing serious adverse reactions and risks.
Which drugs will grapefruit affect?
Common drugs that easily interact with grapefruit include:
- Some statin lipid-lowering drugs: such as atorvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin, etc. Some heart rate control drugs: such as amiodarone, etc.; Some calcium channel blockers are antihypertensive drugs such as verapamil, nifedipine and felodipine.
Of course, not all drugs in a specific category will interact with grapefruit. The instructions of some drugs will specify the influence of grapefruit on drugs.
If you are worried, you can consult your doctor or ask the doctor to change to a drug of the same category that is not affected by grapefruit.
How does grapefruit affect drugs?
After the drug is taken by the human body, it needs to be absorbed by intestinal wall mucosal cells before it can be transported into blood.
Many drugs will be hindered in this step, and a large number of drug molecules will be decomposed and inactivated by metabolic enzymes in small intestinal cells, resulting in a significant reduction in the amount of drugs entering the blood circulation. Obviously, if these metabolic enzymes in the small intestine are less or less active, the amount of drugs absorbed into the blood will also increase accordingly.
However, some components contained in grapefruit juice, such as naringin and furanocoumarin, can significantly inhibit the expression and activity of the above metabolic enzymes in human small intestinal cells, thus affecting the catabolism of drugs. The drug is less inactivated in the small intestine, and the drug concentration in the body will significantly increase after taking the drug.
Moreover, grapefruit juice can inhibit these metabolic enzymes for up to 24 hours, that is, a cup (about 200 ml) of grapefruit juice or a grapefruit can inhibit drug metabolism for hours or even days. The more grapefruit you eat, the more obvious the inhibition is and the longer it lasts.
Even if grapefruit and related drugs are taken at staggered times, the influence of grapefruit cannot be completely avoided.
If you want to avoid the influence of grapefruit on drugs, the best way is not to eat grapefruit and related foods containing grapefruit ingredients during taking drugs.
How do hypertension patients choose fruits?
Many people will worry: Can people who take antihypertensive drugs still eat fruits?
As mentioned earlier, not all antihypertensive drugs will be affected by grapefruit. There are not many Chinese who have the habit of eating grapefruit. However, grapefruit, or honey grapefruit, as a close relative of grapefruit, also has potential influence on some antihypertensive drugs and needs to be careful. However, other citrus fruits such as lemon, citrus and sweet orange that are usually eaten have no influence and can be eaten at ease.
Friends who are taking antihypertensive drugs can carefully look at the drug instructions to see if there is any description of the influence of grapefruit on the drug. If you are really worried, you can also consult a doctor or professional pharmacist and consider changing to a drug that is not affected by grapefruit, or avoid eating grapefruit and grapefruit.