Grapefruit juice can raise blood levels and magnify the effects of several medicines.
Q: I take nifedipine for high blood pressure. Lately the medicine wasn’t controlling my blood pressure, so my doctor added lisinopril. That brought the blood pressure down, but it made me cough.
When I went back to my doctor, she dropped the lisinopril and increased the dose of nifedipine. My BP was in the 150/90 range, still on the high side.
My medicine bottle says to “avoid grapefruit,” but the past few weeks I gave in to temptation and bought several. I continued my medication and ate a grapefruit every day. My blood pressure readings have been great: 118/67, 126/72, 114/68!
When I ran out of grapefruit, I was shocked to see the readings climb again. So now I need to go get more grapefruit.
A: Dozens of medications are affected by grapefruit. They include some cholesterol-lowering drugs (atorvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin), heart-rhythm medicines (amiodarone, dronedarone) and blood-pressure pills (felodipine, nifedipine).
Grapefruit juice can raise blood levels and magnify the effects of the medicine. That means grapefruit also might increase the risk of adverse reactions.
Grapefruit all by itself can lower blood pressure (Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Feb. 11, 2017). You shouldn’t count on it as a substitute for your medication, however. You have seen how grapefruit increases the effectiveness of your nifedipine. Side effects such as headache, dizziness, flushing and fluid retention may be more troublesome. Please discuss your grapefruit tactic with your doctor.
Q: Are there any natural approaches for relieving gout?
A: There are a few natural products that can help lower uric acid in the body. During a gout flare-up, uric acid crystals precipitate into the joints and cause the excruciating pain you are experiencing.
Perhaps the favorite natural remedy is tart cherries. Fresh, frozen and dried cherries, cherry juice or Montmorency cherry extract all seem to do the job. Healthy women who eat cherries have lower uric acid levels in their blood ( Journal of Nutrition, June 2003). There don’t appear to be any clinical trials of sour cherries for gout, however.
Another natural product that may help is celery seed. Celery is rich in luteolin, a compound that slows the production of uric acid (Food Chemistry, Dec. 15, 2013).
Losing weight is a longterm strategy that might be helpful for some folks. Including nonfat milk and low-fat yogurt and avoiding high-purine foods like meat and seafood can help with prevention.
Contact the Graedons via peoplespharmacy.com.