Guest guest Posted November 3, 2004 Report Posted November 3, 2004 As a new member who has just given up Lipitor after developing severe muscle aches I thought you might be interested in this article which appeared in my newpaper in the UK: " Grapefruit juice could be lethal Boseley, health editor Wednesday November 3, 2004 The Guardian Drinking grapefuit juice could be life-threatening for people taking simvastatin, the cholesterol-lowering drug which is available over the counter. The revelation raises questions about the wisdom of the government's policy of reclassifying more drugs from prescription-only to over-the- counter status. Although members of the public with moderately raised cholesterol are being encouraged to buy simvastatin, the warning to avoid grapefruit juice has gone only to pharmacists, who have been told to advise customers of the risk. Yesterday the committee on the safety of medicines, which advises the UK drug regulatory body, mentioned the statin risk in an update to the " current problems in pharmacovigilance " section on its website. Grapefruit juice has been found to contain a chemical which inactivates a liver enzyme which is important in metabolising drugs. Regular consumption of juice leads to excessively high levels of the drug in the bloodstream, which can cause muscle toxicity. The risk is greatest with simvastatin, made by Merck under the brand name Zocor, and with Pfizer's Lipitor, which is still prescription- only. The respected Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, owned by Which?, has serious doubts about the wisdom of allowing over the counter sales of simvastatin in 10mg doses, which have not been proven by trials to lower cholesterol in the population it is being sold to. " Chris > > It has to do with how the drug is motabalized. > > Grapefruit effects many meds. Mostly it has to do > > with the 3A4 pathway of the CYP450. Basically the > > compounds get bogged down and the grapefruit wins and > > you loose. That is how it has always been explained > > to me when asked why g-fruit juice is an issue. > > > > > > > Sorry Quinn, did not read your message until after I replied to . > Good explanation. > Can I be picky and say the correct word is " metabolized, in case > peope want to look it up to see what it means? > > Regards > Carolina Quote
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