Question

Your spouse has been on statins for many years and is now lamenting never being able to eat grapefruit. Using your best scientific knowledge, explain to him or her why patients who are taking stations should avoid grapefruit. Provide evidence to support your spouse remaining on the station medication.

Answer 1

Statins are used to reduce the cholesterol level in our body. The patients who are on statin medication are not allowed to eat grapefruit or drink it's juice or any other products.

The reason behind this is that the grapefruit increases the amount of statin in the body and thus increases it's side effects.

The mechanism of action is that the grapefruit interferes with the breakdown or the metabolism of the statin(some statins) in the body and thus increases it's amount in the body and thus it's side effects.

The furanocoumarins present in the grapefruit deactivates the enzyme CYP3A4 which is necessary in the statin(some statins) metabolism and thus eating grapefruit will decreases the statin metabolism and creates problems in the body.