Taking medication with fruit juice increases its toxicity.

Many medications, when taken with fruit juice, not only reduce their effectiveness but also increase their toxicity or produce harmful substances in the body.

According to Traditional Medicine Practitioner Tran Hoang Bao, many types of fruit are used in traditional medicine and are very effective remedies. Furthermore, eating fruit is very good for everyone's health. However, many people unknowingly harm their bodies by using fruit juices to take Western medicine due to a lack of understanding.

Some types of fruit juice, when used to take medication, can reduce the effectiveness of the drug, produce harmful substances in the body, or increase the toxicity of the drug.

Absolutely avoid taking medication with fruit juice.

According to Traditional Medicine Practitioner Hoang Bao: "Fruits have four main properties: cold, hot, warm, and cool. Depending on the type of fruit, it will possess one of these two properties. Therefore, taking medicine with the wrong type of fruit juice will prevent the medicine from being fully effective."

For example, when taking medication that has a cooling effect, you shouldn't take it with fruit juices that are considered "heating" in nature, such as longan, lychee, or durian.

Conversely, when taking medicine to dispel cold, one should avoid consuming cold or cooling fruit juices such as watermelon, pear, or coconut.

Most fruit juices contain substances that can chemically react with medications. These chemical reactions can inhibit or amplify the effects of the medication.

Grapefruit, orange, or apple juice can affect the body's absorption of medications. Therefore, using these juices to take medicine will not achieve the desired therapeutic effect.

Furthermore, grapefruit juice can also cause side effects. If grapefruit juice is taken with statins for lipid disorders or atenolol for high blood pressure, it can increase the toxicity of the medication because naringin, a compound found in grapefruit juice, inhibits the enzymes that metabolize these drugs in the liver.
Orange juice and apple juice, when used to take medication, can produce a toxic substance in the intestines that hinders the transport of the drug into the bloodstream.

Lemon juice can render some antibiotics, such as ampicillin, erythromycin, and lincomycin, ineffective. This is not good for patients' health.

Traditional medicine practitioner Tran Hoang Bao also added: "Instead of using fruit juices, it is best to take medicine with boiled and cooled filtered water."

Boiled water removes many impurities that are harmful to the body. Furthermore, this type of water minimizes potential chemical reactions that may occur when taking medication.

However, Mr. Bao also specifically noted that patients must pay attention to the water used to take medication, ensuring it is not hotter than 50°C, as some medications can cause physical or chemical reactions at high temperatures, affecting their effectiveness.

For example, digestive aids, vitamins, cough syrup, and traditional Chinese medicine products, if taken with water that is too hot, will lose their active ingredients."

"In addition, it's important to note that you shouldn't drink fruit juice before meals. We should only consume fruit juice about 30 minutes after a meal."

Because the main component of fruit is fructose, it doesn't need to be digested but is directly absorbed into the small intestine. Rice, protein-rich foods, etc., need to remain in the stomach for 1-2 hours or longer to be gradually digested.

"If you drink fruit juice immediately after a meal, the food in your stomach will mix with the juice, slowing down the digestion process. Furthermore, the juice will be affected by body temperature, making it prone to spoilage and the production of toxins, which can cause illness," said Traditional Medicine Practitioner Tran Hoang Bao.

Which fruit juices should patients avoid?

- Patients with diabetes or a history of diabetes should minimize their consumption of grape juice and other sweet fruit juices because they contain high levels of fructose, which can cause hyperglycemia. - Patients with stomach ulcers, duodenal ulcers, or pancreatitis should absolutely avoid sour fruit juices such as lemon, orange, apple, grape, and strawberry, as these fruits contain many organic substances that increase stomach acid, causing heartburn.

Patients with diarrhea should avoid drinking concentrated fruit juices as they can worsen diarrhea by increasing osmotic pressure in the intestines.

- Patients with fever should avoid drinking sweet fruit juices because they can easily raise blood sugar levels, which slows down the activity of white blood cells in fighting bacteria.

- Avoid using metal spoons to stir fruit juice because metal can destroy the vitamin C found in fresh fruit.

According to Knowledge.net - NM