# Grapefruit & Medications **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572 "2012-02-21T23:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572/21 "2012-02-23T04:09:28Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > [Here is a link](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN00413) to a concise overview of grapefruit interactions with medicines. Thanks for the link. It mentions Sertraline (Zoloft) which I take. I don’t have grapefruit often, but it’s nice to be aware of this. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572/22 "2012-02-23T04:41:12Z")
If you eat grapefruit regularly and are not on high doses of medications you may be at a steady state and as long as you are monitored regularly you will be OK. However, since grapefruit usually increases the activity of medication, the higher dose you are on the more careful you need to be. At the last medical convention I went to the Florida Grapefruit Board had a booth to convince the doctors that grapefruit juice wasn’t the root of all evil. I felt sorry for them given how many patients take medications that interact. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572/23 "2012-02-23T12:20:11Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I take Simvastatin, and haven’t tasted grapefruit since starting on it. God, I could kill for a nice juicy Texas ruby grapefruit. D’ you think I could eat just a few sections once or twice a year? My doctor told me that I could eat a grapefruit every once in a while if I just skip my simvastatin the night before. ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572/24 "2012-02-23T14:30:01Z")
Grapefruit or grapefruit juice can boost the effects of benzodiazepines. When I took Xanax or Klonopin, I’d always wash it down with grapefruit juice for an added kick. Seemed to work. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572/25 "2012-02-24T00:40:50Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > My doctor told me that I could eat a grapefruit every once in a while if I just skip my simvastatin the night before. Interesting. I was under the impression that the interaction would be to keep the statin from working..but there wasn’t any danger or anything. Was the suggestion to skip it to stop you from wasting the pill? Or was your doctor concerned about a dangerous interaction? ETA: I was also taught that the statin is taken at night, because most of the cholesterol your body creates is done while you sleep at night. The statin interferes with that process. So not taking it the night before, and then eating grapefruit the next day, doesn’t seem to click with my limited knowledge. -D/a [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grapefruit-medications/613572.md?page=1)