Pomegranate season started fairly recently around here (Nashville), and I love pomegranates. I was eating at least one or two a day, and they were the really large ones. I was plunged into the most horrible black depression imaginable. I called my psychiatrist and he asked if I’d changed any meds recently, and I hadn’t; I broke down in tears talking to my therapist huddled in the stairwell at the YMCA, and she said that she thought it might be PTSD-related stuff, I’ve gone over and over my mood charts to try to figure out if anything horrible happened to set it off…
Well, guess WHAT??? Pomegranate juice acts exactly the same way as grapefruit joice. Both are powerful inhibitors of the CYP3A4 enzyme in the digestive tract. This means that any medication that is metabolized by CYP3A4 may be completely screwed up by very modest amounts of pomegranate juice, and I’ve been eating at LEAST one huge pomegranate a day. This covers LOTS of drugs. Seroquel (quetiapine) is definitely one of them, and yep, that’s one I’m taking. Tegretol (carbamazepine) is also particularly bad.
So… it’s a huge relief, because I may have figured out what made things go so hideously wrong so fast, but I can’t help thinking, “How on earth would anybody know about this?” Scary, scary stuff. Also, I’m trying to remember when the pomegranates first showed up this fall. I’m going to question all my friends, but how likely is it that anybody will remember??
Does anyone in the mid-South remember when they first saw pomegranates showing up in large quantities this year?? It would help me so so so much to know!
I’m in the MidWest, but I’m sure poms from all over the country are from pretty much the same place. Since I’m at work right now…(runs and looks at a box) they’re from Arizona. I just took a look at our bills, we got our first ones in during the last week of October, which is usually the case.
Does that help?
ETA, if you want to know when they first started showing up in your area, I would call a local mom and pop store and ask them when pom season usually starts. They’ll probably just tell you they already have them, but tell them you’re trying to do some research or something* and ask them when they got their first batch in.
*I would leave it vague, if you go into too much of a story about enzymes and antidepressents and whatnot they might just tell you something to get you off the phone.
Moved thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. Edited thread title.
Previous title was: WARNING, very important food/drug interaction info!!!
Thanks so much Joey! The last week of October/first week in November sounds about right. There’s a produce place in my neighborhood that would probably know, too.
It really is scary that there are SO many drug interactions with pomegranates, and almost nobody knows about it (also with starfruit; who would have guessed?) I can post the info from the original studies if anyone wants to see it.
