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.

    果汁影響藥效

    你肯定聽說過葡萄汁能極大地提高某些藥物的藥效，這種提高甚至能達到危險的程度。藥理學家大衛•貝利在差不多20年以前就發現了這種現象。這是因為葡萄汁中存在一種物質，這種物質能把對藥物起分解作用的一種酶封鎖起來。現在貝利又有了新的發現：葡萄汁、橙汁、蘋果汁以及其它的果汁能嚴重降低某些藥物的有效吸收。貝利于8月19日在費城召開的美國化學會年會上宣布了他的這項發現結果。

    這些被不同果汁降低藥效的藥物包括治療心臟病的藥、抗感染藥以及用于抗移植排斥的藥。果汁中的主要成分好像能封鎖住一種分子，而這種分子的作用是把藥物從小腸運輸到血液。所以，很多的藥物在沒有抵達“靶子”之前就被排泄掉了。貝利說：“這僅僅只是冰山的一角，我確信我們將會發現很多的藥物也受這樣的影響。”所以，下次服藥的時候還是用水吧！

Vocabulary:
Pharmacologist: 藥理學家
Enzyme：酶
Dosage：藥效
Transplant: 移植
 Small intestine： 小腸
Medication: 藥物；服藥
Flush: 沖洗
Sip: 啜飲