Yes it is limonoids

I am afraid that Liver Flushing did nothing for my English skills.

Grapefruit eaten as a food in a varied diet is perfectly alright to eat. It is a good food full of vitamin C and other nutrients. Grapefruits consumed regularly is a good nutrition beneficial food with cancer fighting properties but it may have some interaction with a number of commonly taken prescription medication.

The citrus taken with the olive oil for a Liver Flush is a one off special use and is not relevant. Also it is hardly ever made clear in any article about the effects of food; how much one actually needs to consume.

The benefits of grapefruit:

A good write up about grapefruit will typically mention the following good aspects:

Grapefruit Lowers Cholesterol. Both blond and red grapefruit can reduce blood levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and red grapefruit lowers triglycerides as well. Both red and blond grapefruits both positively influenced cholesterol levels, but red grapefruit was more than twice as effective, especially in lowering triglycerides. In addition, both grapefruits significantly improved blood levels of protective antioxidants. In a study, participants added red grapefruit, blond grapefruit or no grapefruit to their daily diet. The results indicated that both types of grapefruit appeared to lower LDL cholesterol in just 30 days: total cholesterol by 15.5% in those eating red grapefruit and 7.6% in those eating blond grapefruit; LDL cholesterol by 20.3% and 10.7% respectively; and triglycerides by 17.2% and 5.6% respectively. No changes were seen in the control group (those that didn't eat any grapefruit). A similar result has also been obtained with apple pectin.

Prevent Kidney Stones. In the British Journal of Nutrition it is claimed that when women who drank ½ to 1 litre of grapefruit, apple or orange juice daily, their urinary pH value and citric acid excretion increased, significantly dropping their risk of forming calcium oxalate stones.

Protection against Colon Cancer. Drinking three 6-ounce glasses of grapefruit juice a day was shown to reduce the activity of an enzyme that activates cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Researchers also confirmed that grapefruit may help prevent weight gain by lowering insulin levels.

Grapefruit Boosts Liver Enzymes that Clear Out Carcinogens
Grapefruit juice significantly increases the production and activity of liver detoxification enzymes responsible for preparing toxic compounds for elimination from the body.

The liver clears out toxins, including carcinogens, using a two step process called Phase I and Phase II detoxification. In the first part of this process, Phase I, enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 family, work on the toxin to make it more attractive to enzymes involved in the second part of the process, Phase II. Unfortunately, the action of Phase I enzymes often renders the toxin not only more attractive to Phase II enzymes, but even more dangerous, and some foods contain compounds that only increase the activity of Phase I without also turning up Phase II.
Grapefruit works in both Phase I and Phase II to enhance the liver's ability to remove cancer-causing toxins.

Grapefruit's Naringenin Repairs DNA. Naringenin, a flavonoid concentrated in grapefruit, helps repair damaged DNA in human prostate cancer cells reports a lab study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

The downside of grapefruits

The down side of grapefruit that is often printed on drug packets but often ignored or forgotten is that the flavornoids in grapefruit called limonins. Grapefruit juice is one of the foods most likely to cause problems with drugs, because it is metabolized by the same enzyme in the liver that breaks down many drugs. The cytochrome P-450 3A4 enzyme breaks down grapefruit juice into useful components for body, just like it breaks down dozens of medications. When the system is overloaded, the grapefruit juice can "swamp" the system, keeping the liver busy and blocking it from breaking down drugs and other substances.

Perhaps one of the more interesting facts that emerge from studies is that grapefruit has a greater potential to fight some forms of cancer than cancer drugs. Taking the two together over taxes the liver and has the risk of negating the use of both.

Anyway here is the list of drugs that grapefruit interacts with according to the Drugs that Interact with Grapefruit Juice; Taken from the December 2004 issue of the American Journal of Nursing

Antibiotics : clarithromycin, erythromycin, troleandomycin

Anxiolytics: alprazolam, buspirone, midazolam, triazolam

Antiarrhythmics: amiodarone, quinidine

Anticoagulant: warfarin

Antiepileptic: carbamazepine

Antifungal: itraconazole

Anthelmintic: albendazole

Antihistamine: fexofenadine
Antineoplastics: cyclophosphamide, etoposide, ifosfamide, tamoxifen, vinblastine, vincristine
Antitussive: dextromethorphan
Antivirals: amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir

Benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment: finasteride

A-blockers: carvedilol

Calcium channel blockers: diltiazem, felodipine, nicardipine, nifedipine, nimodipine, nisoldipine, verapamil

Erectile dysfunction drugs: sildenafil, tadalafil
Hormone replacement: cortisol, estradiol, methylprednisolone, progesterone, testosterone
Immunosuppressants: cyclosporine, sirolimus, tacrolimus

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin
Opioids: alfentanil, fentanyl, sufentanil

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: fluvoxamine, sertraline

Xanthine: theophylline


Links:


http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=25



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