Researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center reported the benefits of grapefruit juice in enhancing the effect of some cancer fighting drugs in the journal Clinical Cancer Research on August 7, 2012. The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site the same day.
This research is the first scientifically documented study that provides clear cut evidence of the ability to harness the food drug interactions that occur naturally.
A daily glass of grapefruit juice was shown to accentuate the effects of the cancer inhibiting drug sirolimus to the extent that patients did not have to take doses of the drug that produced unpleasant side effects.
Grapefruit juice was shown to be as effective in retaining sirolimus in a patient’s body as the drug called ketoconazole that also slows drug metabolism increased sirolimus levels by 500 percent.
The study enrolled 138 patients with incurable cancer that has no known effective therapy. “No patients in the study had a complete response, but about 30 percent of patients in the three trials had stable disease, meaning a period when their cancers did not advance. One patient receiving grapefruit juice had a partial response – significant tumor shrinkage – that lasted for more than three years. “
Grapefruit juice inhibits the enzyme systems in the body that break down some drugs.
Not all grapefruit is created the same according to the researchers. Freshly squeezed and frozen concentrate has a superior pharmaceutical effect over canned grapefruit juice.
The advantages that grapefruit juice has as a medicine are a therapy that increases the lifetime of drugs in a patient’s system, moderates the rate of release of drugs so they can be better tolerated, reduces side effects, and reduces costs.
Grapefruit juice can inhibit the effect of many drugs so it is a good idea to check with your physician before you begin drinking grapefruit juice regularly.
Alabama has some of the highest rates of all types of cancer according to the Centers for Disease Control. The causes are smoking (about 25% of Alabamians smoke), obesity (1/3 of the people in Alabama are obese), and pollution.
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