Does grapefruit prevent the absorption of medicines or vitamins?

That must be the case with Zocor (Simvastatin) which I take for high cholesterol. The instructions that come with this medication states that you should not take this medicine while eating grapefruit.

Although I have read on WEBMD not to take high blood pressure medication with grapefruits or just the juice, the medicine does not have this instruction on it.

chyna: It does if you read the multipage foldout info that comes with a box, not the bottle from the pharmacy. I sold Lisinopril (high blood pressure) for a while and we were instructed to give that info to all of the docs.

My gyno told me not to take it within an hour of taking birth control pills.

@Cardinal I admit to never reading the foldouts. <hangs head>. I will read the information next time. But really, shouldn’t it be posted on the medicine bottle?

@chyna. I’m a diabetic with high cholesterol and I take 4 different kinds of medicines and all the instructional literature for each medicine is about 3 pages long. There just isn’t any possible way to make all that information fit on a pill bottle.

@Bluefreedom True. I promise to read ALL literature next time.

“Drugs that Interact with Grapefruit Juice (Most severe are Lipitor and the like)”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050124010803.htm

Antibiotics: clarithromycin, erythromycin, troleandomycin
Anxiolytics: alprazolam, buspirone, midazolam, triazolam
Antiarrhythmics: amiodarone, quinidine
Anticoagulant: warfarin
Antiepileptic: carbamazepine
Antifungal: itraconazole
Anthelmintic: albendazole
Antihistamine: fexofenadine
Antineoplastics: cyclophosphamide, etoposide, ifosfamide, tamoxifen, vinblastine, vincristine
Antitussive: dextromethorphan
Antivirals: amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir
Benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment: finasteride
β-blockers: carvedilol
Calcium channel blockers: diltiazem, felodipine, nicardipine, nifedipine, nimodipine, nisoldipine, verapamil
Erectile dysfunction drugs: sildenafil, tadalafil
Hormone replacement: cortisol, estradiol, methylprednisolone, progesterone, testosterone
Immunosuppressants: cyclosporine, sirolimus, tacrolimus
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin
Opioids: alfentanil, fentanyl, sufentanil
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: fluvoxamine, sertraline
Xanthine: theophylline

Adapted from materials provided by University Of Rochester Medical Center.

also be aware of grapefruit juice in drinks, especially soft drinks

I believe so. I’m on a slew of medications for Addison’s disease, and a few of them direct you to not consume grapefruit.

Here is what I located at Wikipedia:

Grapefruit can have a number of interactions with drugs, often increasing the effective potency of compounds. Grapefruit contains naringin, bergamottin and dihydroxybergamottin, which inhibit the protein isoform CYP3A4 predominately in the liver. It is via inhibition of this enzyme that grapefruit increases the effects of a variety of drugs. The effect of grapefruit juice with regard to drug absorption was originally discovered in 1989. However, the effect became well-publicized after being responsible for a number of deaths due to overdosing on medication.

Grapefruit juice may be the first documented, but apple and orange juices have been also implicated in interfering with etoposide, a chemotherapy drug, some beta blocker drugs used to treat high blood pressure, and cyclosporine, taken by transplant patients to prevent rejection of their new organs.

I Love Fresca!
I guess I’ll have to pay attention next time I have to take medicine. Thanks this is good information.

I can’t take grapefruit with my medications so I think it must.

What about vitamins and minerals? Does it increase or decrease or do nothing to these?

There is something in grapefruit that interferes with some prescription meds. Your druggist will warn you when you get one of those. Other than that, it is just food.