Does taking statins really need to quit grapefruit?

Statins are the most effective lipid-lowering drugs and have become one of the main drugs for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases

It's meaningless to talk about the role without "quantity"

First of all, let’s take a look at how the instructions of domestically marketed statin drugs are stipulated: atorvastatin calcium and simvastatin are mentioned in the instructions of the regular consumption of grapefruit juice (a cup of 250ml per day) on the impact of these two drugs.

However, large amounts of drinking will inhibit the metabolism of these two drugs in the body, increase the concentration of the drug in the body, and ultimately lead to an enhanced drug effect.

In addition, lovastatin tablets, pravastatin sodium, pitavastatin calcium, and rosuvastatin calcium are not mentioned in the instructions

Here comes the important point.

Grapefruit only has an effect on some statins

According to the drug instructions, we can see that grapefruit only has an effect on some statins

By consulting the instructions, we found that the three drugs atorvastatin, lovastatin, and simvastatin need to be metabolized by cytochrome P450 3A4 in the body, while other statin drugs do not need to be metabolized by this enzyme

Therefore, it is recommended that patients taking atorvastatin calcium, lovastatin, and simvastatin avoid taking large amounts of grapefruit

The grapefruit was not "killed by one pole"

The question is, is the grapefruit mentioned here the grapefruit we usually eat?

Of course not, grapefruit is not equal to grapefruit

In addition, tangerines, oranges, lemons, etc.

However, the content of these ingredients is much lower than that of grapefruit, so the interaction between drugs and food can only be triggered when large amounts are taken

By Meng Qingli (Beijing Shijitan Hospital)