To learn more about cholesterol and heart disease, read Managing Your Cholesterol, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. Atorvastatin interacts with grapefruit juice if you. Grapefruit juice affects certain statins more than others. Grapefruit juice increases the level of simvastatin in your blood and makes side effects more likely. But to be on the safe side, check with your doctor, and avoid taking your pills with grapefruit juice. What's more, eating half a grapefruit is even less risky than drinking grapefruit juice, since it takes several fruits to make a single glass of juice. That's because the studies showing dangerous effects used massive amounts of furanocoumarins, the amount found in a quart or more of the juice. Because red yeast rice may act like statins in the body, you should not drink grapefruit. Grapefruit is known to interact negatively with certain statin medications, making it important to monitor your intake as this fruit and its food products (like grapefruit juice) may interfere with medication effectiveness or increase potential side effects. But if you can't switch, experts say it's probably okay to enjoy a small glass. That can give you a greater chance of side effects and liver damage. Not all statins are affected equally by grapefruit juice, so grapefruit fans might want to switch to a statin that's less affected (see the table below). Grapefruit can interact with certain statins, increasing the concentration of statins in your blood. Drinking grapefruit juice while taking certain statins might increase the effects and side effects of these medications. As a result, more of the drug is absorbed, making it more powerful than it's meant to be - even toxic in some cases. People who take statins should avoid grapefruit. Grapefruit juice contains compounds called furanocoumarins that stop CYP3A from doing its job. Why?Ī: Certain classes of drugs - most notably statins - are metabolized (broken down) in your intestines by an enzyme called CYP3A, which normally reduces the amount of drug that enters your bloodstream. Q: I've heard that people shouldn't drink grapefruit juice if they're taking a statin.
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