Grapefruit and other citrus fruits can have harmful long-term effects on your body when taken with certain medications. This is likely because fruits like grapefruit inhibit how you metabolize certain drugs.
Chocolate, red wine, and antidepressants.
Along with many beers, aged cheeses, processed meats, and smoked fish, chocolate and red wine contain an amino acid derivative called tyramine.
One kind of antidepressants called MAO inhibitors are dangerous when mixed with foods or drinks that contain tyramine. These include beer, red wine, chocolate, processed meat, avocados, and some cheeses.
Medicines can interact with whole fruit, fruit pulp or fruit extracts. Fruit of concern include orange, pomelo, pomegranate, cranberry, red/purple grape, apple, and grapefruit. Patients should be informed about the risk of interactions from consuming fruit.
Grapefruit can mean danger when combined with some popular drugs used for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression.
According to the researchers, if you're taking medications and want to drink these juices, you need to leave a gap of four hours either side of taking your pills. So if you take your pills first thing in the morning, you might want to save your breakfast glass of orange juice for lunchtime.
Grapefruit and certain other citrus fruits, such as Seville oranges, can interfere with several kinds of prescription medications. Don't take these interactions lightly.
Acidic and sub-acidic fruits such as grapefruits, strawberries, apples, pomegranates, and peaches, should never be combined with sweet fruits such as bananas and raisins. This is because it often leads to digestive problems, nausea, acidosis, and headaches.
Milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and butter, as well as calcium-fortified foods such as some juices and cereals, should not be taken while on these particular types of antibiotics. If for some reason these “cannot be avoided, separate the drug and dairy products by at least two hours,” Chan advises.
Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) interacts with BLUEBERRY. Blueberry fruit or leaf might lower blood sugar levels. Taking blueberry along with diabetes medications might cause blood sugar to drop too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely.
Aged cheeses, chocolate, smoked meats, and wine are high in tyramine, an amino acid that can cause a sudden, dangerous spike in blood pressure when combined with certain antidepressants (particularly those in the class of MAOI antidepressants, like Marplan and Nardil).
Among the top plant antidepressant foods are watercress, spinach, lettuces, fresh herbs, peppers, pumpkin, cauliflower, lemon and strawberry. Antidepressant animal foods include oysters, clams, mussels, crab, tuna, lobster, salmon, herring and snapper.
Bromelain can also interact with some medications. Those taking antibiotics, anticoagulants, blood thinners, anticonvulsants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, insomnia drugs and tricyclic antidepressants should be careful not to eat too much pineapple.
The researchers narrowed down the top 10 raw fruits and vegetables they found to be associated with better mental health and fewer symptoms of depression. These include carrots, dark leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, cucumber, apples, bananas, grapefruit, other citrus fruits, fresh berries, and kiwifruit.
Bromelain can also interfere with certain medications, including some drugs in the following classes: antibiotics. blood thinners. antidepressants.
Bananas are high in potassium which is not good for certain medications. Try not to eat bananas or oranges if you take ACE inhibitors such as captopril, enalapril and fosinopril among others. ACE inhibitors lower blood pressure and treat heart failure by opening up blood vessels, so blood flows more efficiently.
Bananas and other potassium-rich foods
These medications can cause the body to retain excess potassium that would otherwise be flushed out by the kidneys. “Potassium is a great mineral and necessary in our diets, but under certain circumstances it can lead to trouble,” Dr.
Avoid mixing your watermelons, muskmelons, cantaloupe and honeydews with other fruits. Try not to mix acidic fruits, such as grapefruits and strawberries, or sub-acidic foods such as apples, pomegranates and peaches, with sweet fruits, such as bananas and raisins for a better digestion.
For example, some antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications have harmful interactions with citrus fruits such as grapefruit. While grapefruit generally has various health benefits, it reacts with many medications. So it's essential to be aware of the risks, as it doesn't take much to experience long-term effects.
Interactions with food and drink
You should therefore avoid drinking large amounts of caffeinated drinks, such as tea, coffee, energy drinks and cola, while taking fluvoxamine.
Notes for Consumers: Most foods do not interact with Escitalopram. However, do not significantly alter your intake of grapefruit juice or grapefruit-containing foods while taking Escitalopram, or avoid grapefruit juice if possible. Side effects from Escitalopram may get worse if you drink grapefruit juice.