Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Ferrebeekeeper blogger:Grapefruit: inhibits the activity of a human metabolizing enzyme CYP3A4

CPYP3A4???  I thought Grapefruit needed sugar to sweeten the taste buds.

ferrebeekeeper blogger explains all things nature has created, Man included

Monday's topic was Grapefruit, never the sweetest fruit treat to start the morning off.


I had forgotten the one liner that a London Drugs pharmacist told me to stay away from when taking my meds.  Grapefruit!   Wish I had that as an excuse as a youngster, but then I was independently healthy.

ferrebeekeeper
 The Forbidden Fruit….Grapefruit?


Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits.  Incongruously I associate the sweet semi-tropical fruit with the most bitter part of winter.  When I was growing up (on a hill farm in central Appalachia), we had crates of the big yellow citruses during winter–an annual gift from some unknown relative.  ......

Snip

..... Grapefruits are healthy fruits filled with vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants, and other possibly wholesome phytochemicals (to say nothing of fiber) however they also contain a chemical which inhibits the activity of a human metabolizing enzyme CYP3A4.  This not-very-euphonically named enzyme allows the liver and the intestine to break down drugs–so grapefruit are potentially dangerous to people taking certain prescription medicines.  According to pharmacologists, more than 40% of drugs can interact with grapefruit!  This sort of thing is why biochemistry is so interesting and challenging!  Maybe there is a rightful reason grapefruit should be called forbidden fruit…but until the doctor actively forbids it, I am going to go have some more…

Skeddadle along to ferrebeekeeper for everything you ever needed to know about Grapefruit and other topics like bees

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