Fruit Juices Block Some Drugs

You’ve no doubt heard that grapefruit juice can greatly increase the effects of some drugs. Even to a dangerous degree. Pharmacologist David Bailey made that discovery almost 20 years ago. A substance in the juice blocks an enzyme that breaks down the drugs. Now Bailey is back with a fresh finding—grapefruit juice, orange juice, apple juice and other fruit juices can also severely decrease the absorption of certain drugs. He announced this discovery August 19th at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia.

Some of the drugs that have their dosages effectively decreased by various juices include medications that fight heart disease, infection and even the rejection of transplants. Key ingredients in the juices appear to block a molecule that carries drugs from the small intestine into the bloodstream. So a lot of the medication gets flushed out without ever reaching its target. Bailey says, "This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way." So when taking medications, a sip of H2O is probably the way to go.

果汁影响药效

你肯定听说过葡萄汁能极大地提高某些药物的药效，这种提高甚至能达到危险的程度。药理学家大卫?贝利在差不多20年以前就发现了这种现象。这是因为葡萄汁中存在一种物质，这种物质能把对药物起分解作用的一种酶封锁起来。现在贝利又有了新的发现：葡萄汁、橙汁、苹果汁以及其它的果汁能严重降低某些药物的有效吸收。贝利于8月19日在费城召开的美国化学会年会上宣布了他的这项发现结果。

这些被不同果汁降低药效的药物包括治疗心脏病的药、抗感染药以及用于抗移植排斥的药。果汁中的主要成分好像能封锁住一种分子，而这种分子的作用是把药物从小肠运输到血液。所以，很多的药物在没有抵达“靶子”之前就被排泄掉了。贝利说：“这仅仅只是冰山的一角，我确信我们将会发现很多的药物也受这样的影响。”所以，下次服药的时候还是用水吧！

Vocabulary:
Pharmacologist: 药理学家
Enzyme：酶
Dosage：药效
Transplant: 移植
Small intestine： 小肠
Medication: 药物；服药
Flush: 冲洗
Sip: 啜饮