This is apparently due to substances in grapefruit that interact with an enzyme used to metabolize some medicines.
Warning labels in the leaflet seems like a very inefficient solution. Why isn't the warning placed on products containing grapefruit?
We can't put billboards up for everything. It is your health, and therefore your responsibility, to read the provided literature and raise any questions to your doctor. It's not obscured or hidden knowledge. In fact, it's usually one of the first things mentioned in big, bold text. In addition every pharmacy I've been to offers consulting on medications for free and in general doctors will always go over major interactions with medication (though I've had less luck with this).
It's surprising that people would take any medication without reading the leaflet anyway, given that grapefruit is not the only thing that can interact with them, and it's usually pretty clearly written.
Perhaps because of a life too inundated by data, or because they’re busy, or for whatever reason, they ignore all of these opportunities to understand the medicine they’ve been asked to take.
I can’t judge a person for doing that, as I’m sure I’ve done the same thing, but I certainly wouldn’t expect a new label on a jug of grapefruit juice that they barely glance at to finally make it across the finish line!
There are problems in the world that are just going to exist, and efforts to eradicate them can become costly and fruitless nuisances rather than further solutions. This feels like one of those to me.
I got no shortage of warning about from the medication side (doctor and pharmacist directly and verbally, plus in written form in the paperwork and labeling).
It seems far more reasonable and feasible to put the warnings on the medicine than on the food.
By the time someone has killed themselves by eating grapefruit, it means they've already plunged through two safety barriers:
1) The medical professional that prescribed failed in their duty to inform of interactions (which then begs the question as to whether they also failed to screen for interactions before prescribing).
2) You know, those little bits of magically folded paper that come in every single packet of pills. They're not just there for decoration. And if you can't read, then there's always the Pharmacist (or friends or family).
Not common sense that grapefruit interacts with many meds. Signal to noise is important, but grapefruit interacts with enough to be notable. Someone would become aware that would've otherwise been ignorant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_in_depth_(disambiguati...
Even this thread itself raised some awareness, so thanks
Medications have all kinds of complex interactions.
The vitamin K from any number of leafy greens in conjunction with prescription meds can kill you too.
If you are tuned within an inch of your life on prescription meds maybe you should read the leaflets.
Warnings on citrus fruit. What.
this has killed people before - someone will be on a carefully titrated dose of heart meds, stop consuming grapefruit, and die from their body suddenly having 3x more/less of their med.
This is complicated by the fact that other citrus fruits may have similar interactions and, at least according to Wikipedia, the full set of problematic citrus fruits is not well characterized.
That's more likely to prompt someone who's medicated into looking up if their drugs are affected by the fruit.
At worst, it causes a few companies to have to print an extra line of text and it gets disregarded by users.
You can be in liver failure (See https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acute-liver-f... ) after one very large dose of acetaminophen, or after higher than recommended doses every day for several days.
From https://www.ucihealth.org/blog/2018/03/acetaminophen-liver-f... About 1,600 U.S. cases of acute liver failure occur each year due to acetaminophen overuse. And some 500 people die each year from overdosing on the drug.
Imagine you have a peanut allergy and have to check the labels on everything to see if it contains peanut or processed in a plant with peanuts.
Then you walk into the drinks aisle and see grapefruit juice box with a big red banner WARNING THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS GRAPEFRUIT JUICE.
Beyond that, it's really on the consumer of food to make sure they are not ingesting anything that can cause harm to them. Ascertaining grapefruit presence in the food falls squarely in this category. If you can not be sure that grapefruit is absent in a juice, do not drink it. It's that simple. And if something says grapefruit prominently on the packaging (I imagine grapefruit juice in its original packaging would certainly fit the bill), then it's really the individual's responsibility.
You can of course, but you obviously need to print it on grapefruit too, no ?
Too much noise is bad even today. Try to about solutions which provide clarity and personalization.
Medical professional should be responsible for your care, so he should provide you with link/printed brochure with comprehensive list of interactions for YOUR exact condition. it is more efficient and if something happens to you have piece of paper near you in your house with all interactions. You need personalization of everything.
The medicine comes with a warning label.
You can’t avoid what isn’t on the packaging.
They should.
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My grandmother was an ER nurse her whole life (a candy-striper, etc, malpractice insurance investigations etc...)
she was on some medications and grapefruit was a staple morning breakfast for my grandmother and grandfather... Grapefruit, a small sprinkle of either sugar or salt and a glass of O.J. - every morning for like 40 years....
Nearly killed her after she was on some medication that had a poor interaction with grapefruit.
and these were medical experts!
So, _YES_
EDIT: The point is: that even if youre a medical expert, you're still susceptible to this problem, and SHE WAS AWARE but the thing was that a medication she took at like 75 years old, was NOT properly warned about...
Jeasus folks, even brilliant people miss shit like this at times.