Grapefruit 'link' to blood clots

**Skandi** · 04-09-2009, 08:56 PM

Ok now I thought grapefruit are meant to be good for you! Is everything bad? apparently cooked food leads to cancer, but raw food doesn't give up enough nutrients, meat is bad, meat is good....

I had a friend who said her parents had kept a record of everything that you shouldn't eat, and the only things you could eat, were boiled onions.

Do you think we (The media) pay to much attention to occasional cases such as this?

Doctors writing in The Lancet medical journal described the unusual case of a woman who nearly lost a leg after trying a grapefruit diet.

The 42-year-old woman - who arrived at hospital complaining of shortness of breath, difficulty walking and light-headedness - underwent an ultrasound scan which revealed a deep vein thrombosis, or blood clot, extending from hip to calf.

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**Loki** · 04-09-2009, 09:04 PM

Good point Thrym! Well, fact of the matter is that we will all die one day, least of all through "natural causes". The human body is not designed to last forever, and you will find something bad in everything. But the truth is, if you stop eating altogether you will die within a few weeks. The benefits of the nutrients of most of the food we consume, outweigh the downside risks ... which are mostly very long-term.

I take these reports with a pinch of salt, as there will always come out a newer one to contradict it anyway. We have seen that so many times.

I think it is more detrimental for one's health to worry about these things, than actually consuming the food! Unless it's downright poisonous, I wouldn't worry too much.

**~~Ulf~~** · 04-09-2009, 09:12 PM

Moderation, balance, equilibrium, homeostasis.

Grapefruit diet. Seriously, people astound me.

**Angharad** · 04-09-2009, 11:25 PM

The woman was probably on birth control pills. Grapefruit doesn't combine well with synthetic estrogen.

The coadministration with grapefruit juice may increase the bioavailability of oral estrogens. The proposed mechanism is inhibition of CYP450 3A4-mediated first-pass metabolism in the gut wall induced by certain compounds present in grapefruits. In a small, randomized, crossover study, the administration of ethinyl estradiol with grapefruit juice (compared to herbal tea) increased peak plasma drug concentration (Cmax) by 37% and area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) by 28%. Based on these findings, grapefruit juice is unlikely to affect the overall safety profile of ethinyl estradiol. However, as with other drug interactions involving grapefruit juice, the pharmacokinetic alterations are subject to a high degree of interpatient variability. Also, the effect on other estrogens has not been studied.

Grapefruit might also cause interactions with other drugs as well that could also be dangerous. Not everyone can eat all foods safely, I guess.

**Birka** · 04-09-2009, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Angharad

The woman was probably on birth control pills. Grapefruit doesn't combine well with synthetic estrogen.

Grapefruit might also cause interactions with other drugs as well that could also be dangerous. Not everyone can eat all foods safely, I guess.

Grapefruit juice has potential interactions with many medications, especially meds that are metabolized in the 3a4 metabolic pathway in the liver. There are known deaths that have occurred in the US, where grapefruit juice was a contributing factor.

The metabolic pathway taken by grapefruit is different from all of the other citrus fruits.

So grapefruit and/or its juice did not kill the women, it was a metabolic interaction that led to aggravating her predisposition to venous thrombosis.

All things in moderation.