Doctors have
warned patients for quite some time that grapefruit juice can interact with certain
medications and cause harmful side-effects. This is particularly common
with some blood pressure-lowering drugs and some cholesterol-lowering
medications. Researchers believe they know the reason. So-called
furanocoumarins seem to be the problem. Grapefruit juice armed with the
furanocoumarins can cause these drugs to enter the bloodstream more
efficiently, thereby increasing the dose and effect and the potential for
undesirable, and even dangerous, side-effects. Researchers from the
University of North Carolina found that once you took the furanocoumarins out,
the juice behaved like orange juice. Those marketing grapefruit juice
envision the production of a furanocoumarin-free juice, much like lactose-free
milk. It's an interesting idea.
