The Hemp Connection + women's health tips

Does grapefruit cause breast cancer?

I engaged in a Facebook discussion about grapefruit recently. Ruby Reds are currently cheap at Trader Joe's, a fact which made one friend very happy. One of HER friends cautioned that grapefruits have been associated with breast cancer.

I promised to look into it and blog, which is what you're reading now!

In a survey of 50,000 women, researchers found that grapefruit may increase estrogen levels, a known breast cancer risk. It is thought that this relationship may be related to the fact that grapefruits alter a metabolic pathway involved in estrogen metabolism, called"cytochrome p450".

The cytochrome P450 pathway is also important for the metabolism of many medications commonly used with PCOS. Grapefruit and grapefruit juice may alter the metabolism of this pathway in the following ways:
--may induce excessive sedation with benzodiazepenes
--may induce rhabdomyolysis with statins
--may cause hypotension with calcium antagonists
--may alter electrocardiograms with astemizole, cisapride, pimozide, and terfenadine
--may induce overdose with SSRI medications such as Paxil

Wow…sounds like grapefruit could be the kiss of death, doesn't it? Well, those studies certainly sell newspapers and drive up advertising rates on websites who post them, but that's not the whole story.

First of all…when it comes to your medications, if you eat grapefruit regularly, tell your physician. She can calibrate the dose of the medication to reduce the risk of these side effects. Since grapefruits are a winter fruit, you may need to communicate with your physician to account for seasonal changes in your diet.

With regard to breast cancer, even though a couple of years ago the grapefruit/breast cancer link got lots of press time…a recent study reported no association between the two. None of the studies looked specifically at this issue with PCOS, but I suspect with the already present tendency toward high estrogen, there may be an altered metabolic system that could be grapefruit sensitive…and could be problematic…IF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GRAPEFRUIT IS NOT ONE OF MODERATION.

Where women with PCOS might go wrong is if they cycle in and out of diets with limited variety and which focus on grapefruit…um…THE GRAPEFRUIT DIET. If you have PCOS, you may already have a tendency to be hyperestrogenemic. You may be on at least one of the medications mentioned above. And your relationship with food may be more one of feast/famine than one of moderation and variety.

Also, if you have a family history of breast cancer, eating too much grapefruit, all the time, may not be a good idea. Enjoying a seasonal box of Ruby Reds once a year…probably isn't going to be the worst thing you could do to yourself. Even if you have PCOS.

If you moderate the diet, so that grapefruit is one of many fruits you enjoy, and you practice moderation instead of yo-yo dieting, you should be ok with grapefruit.

And you might even get yourself off of some of the medications that were of concern in the first place.: )

http://www.globalrph.com/gfruit.htm

Monroe KR, Murphy SP, Kolonel LN, Pike MC. Prospective study of grapefruit intake and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Br J Cancer. 2007 Aug 6;97(3):440-5. Epub 2007 Jul 10.

Spencer EA, Key TJ, Appleby PN, van Gils CH, Olsen A, Tjønneland A, Clavel-Chapelon F, Boutron-Ruault MC, Touillaud M, Sánchez MJ, Bingham S, Khaw KT, Slimani N, Kaaks R, Riboli E. Prospective study of the association between grapefruit intake and risk of breast cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Aug;20(6):803-9. Epub 2009 Feb 18.

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Does grapefruit cause breast cancer? + women's health tips