What is it about grapefruit specifically that messes with pretty much every prescription in existence?
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ANYTHING YOU EAT GOES THROUGH YOUR LIVER. It is called the “first pass” metabolism. Imagine once everything is broken down in your stomach, each molecule becomes a *car.* Your liver has lots of *highways* that run through it to bring *cars* to be metabolized. These different highways all have different “street names” like CYP 2E1(for alcohol) and CYP2D6(opioids and antidepressants). So depending on the type of *car*, it would fit on a specific highway. Grapefruit breaks down into a *car* that fits onto the highway CYP3A4. CYP3A4 is a MAJOR highway in your liver. Cholesterol medicine, antibiotics, blood pressure medication, and more all travel on it. So if Grapefruit travels on the highway with all the other *cars*, then there becomes a traffic jam, and the *cars* can’t go through the highway and get metabolized. This can create more side effects of other medications because your liver is busy metabolizing the Grapefruit *cars*.
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