# Grapefruit and Valium

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 4, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390 "2006-01-04T13:55:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/1 "2006-01-04T13:55:21Z")

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My doctor has me on a small dose of Valium for a little while for back pain (apparently the stuff is a good muscle relaxer).

Anyway, my bottle warns me not to eat grapefruit or drink grapefuit juice while on Valium. What’s the reason for this?

Secondly, I like to drink Fresca™, which lists “concentrated grapefruit juice” third on its list of ingredients. Is there enough grpaefruit juice in my favorite soft drink to cause the Valium/Grapefruit Juice Nastiness, whatever that might be?

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/2 "2006-01-04T14:18:54Z")

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Grapefruit contains a compound which inhibits the action of one of the liver’s drug metabolizing enzymes.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/3 "2006-01-04T14:53:43Z")

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I don’t see any **Great Debate** , here. Perhaps a trip to **General Questions** is in order.

(And other readers will please note that this is a question about why a certain fruit interacts with a drug and whether a certain soft drink contains enough of the interactive agent. There is no question about medical advice, _per se_, so let’s try to just answer the questions posed.)

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**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/4 "2006-01-04T16:46:47Z")

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[http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA236820/](http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA236820/)

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/5 "2006-01-04T16:59:17Z")

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[Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=252839) a previous thread on the subject.

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**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-and-valium/338390/6 "2006-01-04T18:25:00Z")

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\<mod\>

**Hey Homie** , please don’t open two threads on the same subject in different forums…

Any responses, please direct them to [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=352458).

This one’s closed.

\</mod\>