h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Did you know that fairly common food and drinks can interact quite severely with medicine you are using?
I thought I knew - but I obviously didn't know enough.
For some time now I have had to use certain drugs for certain conditions.
One of these drugs is quite hard on the liver - which is why I had to give up alcohol.
Yes indeed: No , no , no , no - and certainly no
Oh well, I thought, I can do that for some time if needs must
But what to drink instead?
I can't very well drink all day?
Well, I can of course, but a little variation would be welcomed, right?
So I had some Indian Tonic Water from time to time.
And at home I mixed grapefruit juice with water (usually the plain fizzy type sans taste).
Guess what? there is 83 milligrams of quinine in a liter of Indian Tonic Water. Quinine interacts with 444 drugs:
http://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/quinine.html
Now, quinine is usually ordained for people with malaria and cramps in their calves. And the usual dose is 100 to 300 mg per day, so you should drink quite a few G&T's per day before it becomes a problem.
Grapefruit juice however is quite another ballgame. I used to drink at least one liter of grapefruit juice (mixed with plain fizzy soda water) every day.
But only one deciliter per day is enough to cause trouble if you use statins against cholesterol level.
I could not believe my liver numbers were so high when I did not drink alcohol.
Well, it was neither alcohol nor medicine that caused my liver to protest.
It was grapefruit juice
Later I learned that too much cinnamon is bad for your health too. As are other things.
Now I wonder if my friends here have heard about other things that should be used with caution - whether you take medicine or not?
Will you help me create a useful list?

(Please refrain from posting non-scientific rumours. While they may become true one day they are not very helpful today, are they? We may open up another thread for stuff like that, but right noe we'll stick to facts, okay? )

I forgot to add this link:

http://www.drugs.com/slideshow/grapefruit-drug-interactions-1028#slide-1

I vaguely remember that parsley in very large amounts is poisonous. And you shouldn't eat nutmeg if you're pregnant. But neither of those are necessarily in conjunction with medication.

Thanks, I'll try to look into it

There is this thing about reheating spinach, isn't there? Well, I found this - that also tells a few other things:

http://www.eatlivelovefood.com/reheating-spinach-and-other-taboos/

In a concerted effort to reduce carbs I have banished all fruit juices and sweetened drinks from my life. I still use fruit in moderation for baking -- usually putting it through a blender with water so it can be mixed with batter.

I take statin drugs, and my mother warned me away from grapefruit juice long ago. I have found that cranberry and apple juice pushed my blood sugar a bit high. So, I just drink water, coffee, and skim milk now. Not that I'm complaining.

Pierce, it is honorable to have lived beyond one's 60th birthday, but the body gradually becomes more fragile and needs to be treated with greater and greater care. The protection of youth no longer applies. If alcohol and sugary desserts start doing more harm than good, your choice is to live a while longer or make a shorter future life more pleasant. But there are still pleasures without the things you have to drop. It may be a blessing n disguise.

I don't think I'm taking any meds [apart form the statins] that interact badly with foods that I eat.

totally unrelated.

you shamed me into realising I've not been here in ages, PtP. time I logged in and came back!

loved the cinnamon thing on your other site, btw: and the conversation it provoked....

Cinnamon, nutmeg, and parsley are not used in large amounts, are they? Of course, we live in a time of "miracle foods" that editors who should know better tell their readers to load up on .

[I think we're getting perilously close to a time when you can't believe *anything* you read in a magazine or see on TV . And the supermarket checkout aisles always have the absolute *worst* mags staring at you as you wait. Cruel and unusual punishment!]

paulh, I chose grapefruit juice because of its taste and because there is a lot less fruit sugar in it than say in juice.

I take drugs against cholesterol, blood pressure, asthma and stomach acid.

You are right about living long or living good. I think I've found an acceptable balance between the two

Welcome back AgProv2

Yeah, that was a good one, wasn't it?

paulh, you might like it too. Right up your alley, according to your latest posting:

It was a picture with a text reading:
"Did you know that shoving a tablespoon of cinnamon up your a$$ can cut the duration of a common cold in half?
You can trust me, I'm a random picture from the Internet..."

re post 7:

"Cinnamon, nutmeg, and parsley are not used in large amounts, are they?" [paulh]

Let's put it this way: Some people use more than others, it would appear.
Earlier this year health authorities here issued a warning against overdoing cinnamon. This caused quite a stir as cinnamon buns and other pastries are powdered generously with cinnamon.

I found this which looks sensible, but I'm not sure how verifiable it's content is:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/445647-is-too-much-cinnamon-bad-for-you/

re post 7 - the sequel:

"I think we're getting perilously close to a time when you can't believe *anything* you read in a magazine or see on TV . And the supermarket checkout aisles always have the absolute *worst* mags staring at you as you wait " [paulh]

I think a lot of us have become more wary about what we get from the media. That is obviously a good thing, considering what you meet on the interweb.

I'm trying to pass along what seems to be serious information. The anti-vaxxers can't be taken serious, but neither can all the health apostles who think we should avoid *all* the things that make life worth living. Let me remind you of the vegan who did not smoke nor drink alcohol - and was run over by a truck delivering linseed to his favourite health food shop

I consume way less than 1 and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon per day . Some people worry too much about their food, not that that would be bad if the quality of most food was suspect. Sensible precautions like washing your hands before eating, washing veggies before eating them, or not eating cooked food that's been lingering in your refrigerator more than a week would more than likely suffice to keep you from food-caused health issues. There are other useful things to do, but those are the main ones.

One issue that I haven't been able to be sure about is the wisdom of eating vegetable skins. On the one hand, some sources say that most of the antioxidants and other nutrients are located there. On the other hand, that's where the pesticide residue is, too. I try to compromise when I'm preparing two apples. I peel one of them and leave the other unpeeled. If there was bad stuff in the peel, I'm only getting half of it, but I'm also getting half of the valuable nutrients.

I have gone straight into denial over cinnamon: how can one possibly have too much of it! But then I come from a long line of German-American (aka Pennsylvania Dutch) cooks who never spared butter or spices in their recipes.

I am not sure if I could have survived childhood had it not been for a regular serving of cinnamon and sugar on toast (on a good bed of butter)

F S

re post 12:

"Some people worry too much about their food..." [paulh]

Too true, but I started this thread to warn people against things you would never believe were dangerous had you not been told.

I mean who would have thought that as little as one cup of tasty, low on fruit sugar grapefruit juice might interact in such a way with your daily dose of medicine that you actually damaged your liver?

I did not drink any alcohol for weeks and in spite of that my liver numbers sky rocketed - and even my had no idea that it was the combo of grapefruit juice and statins that caused it

Cinnamon and Nutmeg constitute far lesser problems I'm sure - but they should at least be mentioned. Am I right?

That interaction with grapefruit juice was well-known to me, but I couldn't have told you off-hand which drugs it reacted adversely with.

The list is almost endless, TC

I found this in the following link:

"These are medications with which grapefruit juice should NOT be consumed unless advised by a doctor:

Statins (cholesterol drugs)
Antihistamines
Calcium channel blockers (blood pressure drugs)
Psychiatric medications
Intestinal medications
Immune suppressants
Pain medications
Impotence drug
HIV medication
Antiarrhythmics"

http://www.medicinenet.com/grapefruit_juice_and_medication_interactions/views.htm

I don't know if this counts when I had my flu jab I was asked if I was allergic to eggs. My mother told me that in the early years when antibiotics were first used, patients were forbidden to eat eggs.

"I started this thread to warn people against things you would never believe were dangerous had you not been told." [Pierce]

I appreciate the thought. The thing is, most people who are taking the meds you list are told by their doctors or pharmacists not to drink grapefruit juice. My pharmacy puts a sticker on med bottles about such things. You should see the stickers they put: I'm not supposed to get overexposure to the sun, I'm supposed to take care that I don't get drowsy, etc. I'm warned right and left! So, I see it as a matter between you and your doctor. Sorry.

As for cinnamon and other spices, it's unusual for people to overdose on them. Then there are spices like turmeric that are supposed to be *helpful* in preventing Alzheimer's. Here again, if I use turmeric, it's to flavor my food.

That's an interesting list, - I'm currently on pain medication for lower back pain and I drink a small glass of grapefruit juice every morning. I will switch to orange as long as I'm on the meds.