[Dailydrool] Grapefruit, medication interactions

[Valerie]

There is a reasonable article on "Medicine.net" addressing the interaction of grapefruit juice with medicines. and most everyone was correct...partially. Here is a summary of what the article said.
Grapefruit juice blocks the absorption of certain enzymes through the wall of the small Intestine. This produces two effects--smaller amounts of tHe drug get into the body at the same time that the blood levels of the drug rise (because more unabsorbed drug remains in the body). Occasionally this can lead to toxic side effects from too high blood levels of unabsorbed meds. the classes of medications where this can occur are cholesterol drugs, blood pressure drugs, antidepressants, antihistamines, immune suppressors, intestinal meds., antiarrhythmia meds., HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. there is a list of specific meds. On the Medicine.net site under grapefruit and medicine interactions. Mostly the above are meds. taken by people. but if your dog is taking Viagra, he probably shouldn't chase it with a glass of grapefruit juice.