Saturday, July 12, 2008

Grapefruit Juice - Not the Best Hangover Beverage



I used to drink a container of grapefruit juice if I was suffering after a late night. It was a favorite of mine because it was tasty, hydrating, and high in potassium which I would have depleted while drinking. Turns out that I might have been inhibiting my liver’s ability to detox.

Grapefruits naturally contain a significant amount of the flavanoid naringin. Naringin has been shown in numerous studies to reduce the activity of the cytochrome P450 system, the system responsible for cleaning out booze and medicine. The result is that the toxins stay in your body longer.

It is also important to realize that naringin interferes in the metabolism of 60% of currently marketed pharmaceutical drugs. Some examples of drugs are calcium channel blockers (for high blood pressure), statin drugs (for high cholesterol), and sedatives. If you currently are taking any medication you could go to http://www.drug-interactions.com/ to see if your drug is on the list.

I am a huge fan of grapefruits though and they are so healthy for lots of reasons. If I am having a rough morning now, though, I just drink another type of juice. Cheers!

1 comment:

Rambler said...

Seriously....who knew!!!! Glad I have such a smart friend!