Fruit Juice Can Reduce Effectiveness of Drugs

BBC News reports findings discussed in a recent US event suggest that fruit juice could reduce the effectiveness of some medicines, including anti-allergy drugs. Grapefruit, orange, and apple juice are said to contain ingredients that interfere with the effectiveness of medication.

Researchers discovered that grapefruit juice especially had a reverse effect to fexofenadine, which is an antihistamine drug, thereby making it less potent. Researchers used volunteers to take the medication with water and with the juice. When taken with the juice, only half of the drug was absorbed. So far, these juices have been found to affect the oral absorption of etoposide, a chemotherapy drug, some beta-blocker drugs used to treat high blood pressure, and cyclosporine, taken by transplant patients to prevent rejection of their new organs. The study author Dr David Bailey mentions:

"This is just the tip of the iceberg - I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way."

New Study on Quitting Smoking: Are Social Groups the Key?

There have been many methods of quitting smoking over the years; some examples include the nicotine patch, taking prescription medication, and chewing nicotine gum. Yet, according to this NY Times article the best method might be programs that involve group involvement, since quitting has a ripple effect and causes the entire group to follow.

The study was done by Dr. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler over a span of 32 years, and throughout those years they followed the patterns of both smokers and non-smokers. The study concluded that people genereally begin and stop smoking in groups.

Duncan Watts, principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research in New York mentions:

“We tend to think of individuals as atomized units, and we think of policies as good or bad for individuals. This reminds us that we are all connected to each other, and when we do something to one person, there are spillover effects.”

Influence seems to be the driving key in the success of smoking cessations. Smokers aren’t stopping one by one; instead they are stopping in groups.

Americans take alarming rate of prescription drugs

According to this article at ABC News, the number of Americans on prescription drugs has reached an alarming level. An alarming amount of men, women and children are on pills:

--Two out of every three women twenty or older

--One out of every four teenagers

--52% of adult men

--Three out of four people over the age of 65

Dr. Robert Epstein of New Jersey made this claim:

"Honestly, a lot of it is related to obesity," he said. "We've become a couch potato culture (and) it's a lot easier to pop a pill" than to exercise regularly or diet.”

However, an up side to the USA’s pill popping culture is the fact that medicine has made previously fatal diseases such as AIDS and some cancers into chronic diseases instead of fatal.