Grapefruit juice and grapefruit can be part of a healthy diet. Grapefruit has vitamin C and potassium, nutrients your body needs to work properly.
Grapefruit juice and grapefruit can affect the way your medicines work, and that food and drug interaction can be a concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has required that some prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs generally taken by mouth include warnings against drinking grapefruit juice or eating grapefruit while taking the drug.
Here are examples of some types of drugs that grapefruit juice can cause problems (interact) with:
- Some statin drugs to lower cholesterol, such as Zocor (simvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin).
- Some drugs that treat high blood pressure, such as Procardia and Adalat CC (both nifedipine).
- Some organ-transplant rejection drugs, such as Neoral and Sandimmune capsule or oral solution (both cyclosporine).
- Some anti-anxiety drugs, such as BuSpar (buspirone).
- Some corticosteroids that treat Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, such as Entocort EC and Uceris tablet (both budesonide).
- Some drugs that treat abnormal heart rhythms, such as Pacerone and Cordarone tablet (both amiodarone).
- Some antihistamines, such as Allegra (fexofenadine).
Grapefruit juice does not affect all the drugs in the categories above. The severity of the interaction can be different depending on the person, the drug, and the amount of grapefruit juice you drink. Talk to your health care provider or pharmacist, and read any information provided with your prescription or non-prescription (OTC) drug to find out:
- If your specific drug may be affected.
- How much, if any, grapefruit juice you can have.
- What other fruits or juices may also affect your drug in a similar way to grapefruit juice.
