# Do acids, in general, affect medication?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-acids-in-general-affect-medication/721872>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 7, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-acids-in-general-affect-medication/721872 "2015-06-07T08:08:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-acids-in-general-affect-medication/721872/21 "2015-06-09T05:10:27Z")

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> [@teela\_brown](#):
>
> I wish they could develop a grapefruit that can be eaten safely by a person taking statin drugs. I take simvastatin, and I haven’t had a big juicy ruby grapefruit in years. I love them.

THIS. I can’t eat grapefruit because of blood pressure meds and maybe some others.

So how about those cultivars that **bordelond** suggests? I’ll just bet that the chemicals that are so troublesome are the very chemicals that give grapefruits a lot of the flavor they have. The pessimist in me predicts that a drug-safe cultivar would be tasteless and grody.

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**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-acids-in-general-affect-medication/721872/22 "2015-06-09T20:19:37Z")

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nm

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-acids-in-general-affect-medication/721872/23 "2015-06-09T21:46:53Z")

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> [@teela\_brown](#):
>
> I wish they could develop a grapefruit that can be eaten safely by a person taking statin drugs. I take simvastatin, and I haven’t had a big juicy ruby grapefruit in years. I love them.

I bet they could. Lemons don’t seem to be a problem. Seville oranges seem to be the biggest problem in the orange-fruit category. So not all citrus fruits contain furanocoumarins, the chemical that causes the issue. Citrus fruits mutate readily and are really good for selective breeding, so there’s that route. Or maybe a GMO grapefruit that doesn’t contain the gene to make furanocoumarins could be developed.

Whether or not the grapefruit would be worth eating is another matter, though.

**Senegoid** , I found [an article which says that Valencia and navel oranges do not contain furanocoumarins](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/20/food-drug-interactions/1827229/), and [this one backs it up](http://www.consumer-health.com/services/cons_take14.php) (although doesn’t mention varieties, just says “sweet oranges” are okay.) So if you squeeze your own from known orange varieties, you can enjoy your oj. 🙂

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