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Statins and grapefruit - health benefits of lemon juice

Defren

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,106
Up until my last appointment with my GP for my HbA1c result, I was on Simvastatin. I wanted to stop taking statins, my GP wants me to continue to take them and I do completely trust and have faith in my GP. Like I have said, he works with me, and he understands me, and we do have an excellent relationship.

My question; as a compromise for me staying on statins, my GP changed me from Simvastatin 40mg to Atorvastatin 10mg daily. On the Simvastatin it clearly stated not to eat grapefruit while taking the medication. I would like to try grapefruit and see if I can tolerate it, but am unsure if I can have it with Atorvastatin. There is no mention on the box like there was with the SImvastatin, so does anyone know if grapefruit is ok to eat with the new statin?

Thank you. :D
 
Re: Statins and grapefruit

Defren wrote
does anyone know if grapefruit is ok to eat with the new statin?

It's not looking good :(

When grapefruit juice is consumed at or around the time you take your statin, the components in grapefruit prevent these enzyme systems from breaking down the drug, causing the drug to accumulate in high amounts in the body. This can be very dangerous and can cause a variety of health problems, such as liver damage or a rare condition called rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle and kidney damage).

Are All Statins Affected?

So far, the only statins significantly affected by this interaction are:

atorvastatin (Lipitor®)
lovastatin (Mevacor®)
simvastatin (Zocor®)

Simply googling 'Atorvastin and grapefruit' will replicate this finding.

Geoff
 
Re: Statins and grapefruit

Defren said:
I would like to try grapefruit and see if I can tolerate it, but am unsure if I can have it with Atorvastatin.

With an average of 4.8g* carbs per half a grapefruit (raw flesh) I would be surprised if you could not tolerate it.

But as Geoff says it is probably best not to risk it if you are on statins especially one which reports problems with this fruit. I would check with your doctor and or your local pharmacist for their opinions if you are still unsure.

* Source "The Calorie, Carb & Fat Bible 2009 :( " - well you cant afford to buy a new one every year can you :D
 
Re: Statins and grapefruit

I found the ". . . consumed at or around the same time . . ." interesting. Does this mean that if you took your statin at night, you could have grapefruit for breakfast?

Worth checking some more, I think.

Viv 8)
 
Re: Statins and grapefruit

viviennem said:
I found the ". . . consumed at or around the same time . . ." interesting. Does this mean that if you took your statin at night, you could have grapefruit for breakfast?

Worth checking some more, I think.

Viv 8)

I have to take mine at night Viv, so yes, worth looking deeper into methinks.

Thanks Geoff, it's not looking good, oh well, not had grapefruit for quite a long time, so not going to miss it. :lol: Knowing my luck I wouldn't tolerate it anyway... :(
 
Lemon juice

Grapefruit seems to be off the menu, so as I want to stop taking a Vitamin C supplement I decided to look at lemons.

I had a bottle of organic lemon juice in the cupboard, so began reading about the health benefits of the fruit. I am really impressed! Firstly I had about 2 large tablespoons in a cup of green chai tea - yum! Then I added around 5 tablespoons to a cup of boiling water. I just sipped that.

I think that with a lemon at 11 calories and 5g of carbs, it makes a really healthy, and wholesome addition to my diet. If you Google nutritional benefits of lemon juice, you could well be really amazed at the health benefits in lemon juice. I plan to have a cup of organic lemon juice in place of my morning coffee and cream, and another at bed time. I will have to work out the carb values in the amounts of juice I have, but I can certainly spare 5g of carbs for the health giving properties of lemon juice.
 
Healthy low carb lemonade
Dissolve sweetener (IF you need it sweet) in a little bit of hot water
add juice of 2 lemons, fill up with water, add ice cubes and a couple of slices of lemon

From an email I received a while ago:

DON'T WASTE THAT LEMON PEEL

Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming the entire lemon and nothing is wasted.
How can you use the whole lemon without waste?

Simple..place the lemon in the freezer section of your refrigerator. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater, and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your foods.

Sprinkle it to your whisky, wine, vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, shirataki noodles, sauces, cauli rice, fish dishes. All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of lemon juice and vitamin C. Not anymore. You can use lemon on just about anything you eat, make your own lemon pepper, and so on, possibilities are endless, and profit from the extraordinary health benefits all from the humble lemon.

What's the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes?
Well, you see lemon peels contain as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself. And yes, that's what you've been wasting. But from now on, by following this simple procedure of freezing the whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, you can consume all of those nutrients and get even healthier.
It's also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating toxic elements in the body.

So place your lemon in your freezer, and then grate it on your meal every day. It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to live healthier and longer! That's the lemon secret!

The surprising benefits of lemon!

Lemon (Citrus) is a miraculous product to kill cancer cells. It is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.

Why do we not know about that? Because there are laboratories interested in making a synthetic version that will bring them huge profits. You can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon juice is beneficial in preventing the disease. Its taste is pleasant and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.
This closely guarded secret is kept, so as not to jeopardize the beneficial multimillionaires large corporations. As you know, the lemon tree is known for its varieties of lemons and limes. You can eat the fruit in different ways: you can eat the pulp, juice press, prepare drinks, sorbets, add it to your low carb pastry, etc... It is credited with many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it produces on cysts and tumors. This plant is a proven remedy against cancers of all types. Some say it is very useful in all variants of cancer. It is considered also as an anti microbial spectrum against bacterial infections and fungi, effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood pressure which is too high and an antidepressant,combats stress and nervous disorders.
The source of this information is fascinating: it comes from one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world, says that after more than 20 laboratory tests since 1970, the extracts revealed that: It destroys the malignant cells in 12 cancers, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreas ...The compounds of this tree showed 10,000 times better than the product Adriamycin, a drug normally used chemotherapeutic in the world, slowing the growth of cancer cells. And what is even more astonishing: this type of therapy with lemon extract only destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect healthy cells.

Mmmmm, how about a delicious lemon and herb chicken and/or lemon and almond cake with lemon frosting?? PM if you would like the recipes.

Stay super healthy, all of you x x
 
phoenix said:
Lemons are without doubt good sources of several micronutrients
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=27
Unfortunately though the last part of WJets email comes from one of those misleading hoaxes that proliferate on the net.
google lemon cancer hoax

From what I have been reading that may or may not be true. There are many articles extolling the cancer beating qualities of lemons, as there are debunking it. So, it's just your own beliefs that will in the end decide. I am staying with the jury for now, not believing or disbelieving, but I do know that many of the other health benefits do seem to be right when very few sites argue. Either way, a cancer cure or not, I do think that a lemon will stop my need for a vitamin C supplement, the reason why I looked into citrus fruits in the first place. For the sake of some lemon juice in a cup of hot water, or in my green chai tea I'm quite happy.
 
As a grapefruit addict I looked up which statins were grapefruit tolerant and came up with:rosuvastatin
pravastatin
fluvastatin
pitastatin

Hope it helps
 
Lemons are alkali once its in the body, our bodies should be more alkali. Why do you want to stop taking your vit c? Vit c is soooo good for the body.
 
dawnmc said:
Lemons are alkali once its in the body, our bodies should be more alkali. Why do you want to stop taking your vit c? Vit c is soooo good for the body.

Hi Dawn, :wave:


NOOO I don't want to ease up on the amount of Vitamin C I get, I just want to get it from a natural source, rather than a supplement. I am trying to work out how much lemon juice I need to make up my RDA but am so busy at the moment, it's not easy.

Today I have had about a quarter of a lemons juice in a cup of green chai tea, I usually have coffee and cream. I will have a cup of hot water with another quarter of a lemons juice before bed. So I will have had around half the juice from a lemon. Doesn't sound nearly enough does it?

Does anyone have any idea what the RDA is for Vitamin C and how much juice that equates to? Why do I get the feeling it's going to be 20 lemons or something equally as daft. :lol:
 
herisson said:
As a grapefruit addict I looked up which statins were grapefruit tolerant and came up with:rosuvastatin
pravastatin
fluvastatin
pitastatin

Hope it helps

It does indeed - thank you herisson. :D
 
Obvioiusly the jury is still out on whether lemons and lemon juice have anticarcinogenic properties, but they are still very VERY good for us.
I have earlier written about fasting on lemon and ginger tea, and will continue to do so, I drink lemon juice every day without fail and feel that it does me the world of good.

60g of lemon juice provide 45% RDA of Vitamin C, if you would like to increase Vitamin C intake drink rosehip tea as well, my naturopath swears by them and we often chew the skin off them when I can pick them fresh from our garden, a good sugarfree way of increasing vitamin C intake, read a bit more here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_hip
 
PS:
Please note:
Never boil the rosehips, this would destroy the vitamin C content, they must steep in hot water to make the infusion.
Obviously make sure your rosehips come from roses that have not been sprayed with insecticides/pesticides.
Dont store rosehips in metal containers, they discolour the tea and affect flavour, and dont infuse in a aluminium pan, use glass or stainless steel only.

End of lecture :-)

Oh, and dont forget to collect and freeze elderberries this year, very healthy during the winter to support you in the efforts of dodging colds and flu.
 
Thank you Judith.

I checked up on other ways of getting vitamin C, and with the additional lemon juice, I am confident I am getting my RDA. I eat berries every day as well as loads of veg, so am going to finish the container of Vit C supplement I have and not buy any more. I feel confident I am getting all I need from my food.
 
One of my Wolfhounds loved rosehips, particularly from the rosa rugosa bushes. She was always sneaking them when I wasn't looking.

This was the same girl who ate the nectarine off my little tree! :( - but all Wolfhounds love fruit.

Also to note - you can't overdose on Vit C, 'cos any excess is excreted by the body.

Viv 8)
 
viviennem said:
One of my Wolfhounds loved rosehips, particularly from the rosa rugosa bushes. She was always sneaking them when I wasn't looking.

This was the same girl who ate the nectarine off my little tree! :( - but all Wolfhounds love fruit.

Also to note - you can't overdose on Vit C, 'cos any excess is excreted by the body.

Viv 8)

Naughty puppies :lol: One of my dogs loved grapes until I found out how bad they are for dogs. I was still eating them then, and had to sneak them when he wasn't looking.

I know you can't overdose on Vit C, I was more worried about getting enough. :lol:
 
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