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It would seem to me that instead of looking to minimize the effect of grapefruit juice in slowing the metabolism and elimination of drugs, one could cut drug dosages by taking advantage of it. Grapefruit juice costs less than any drug and has far fewer possible side effects. This could only benefit the patient by lowering drug exposure and costs.

Shmuel Engelsohn
Jerusalem, Israel

“This is probably not a good strategy,” says researcher Paul B. Watkins of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both the ingredients in juice and people’s reactions to them are too variable to guide a precise reduction in drug doses. —B. Harder