Citrus is especially packed with vitamin C, which is said to have really good health benefits. Among other things, it should keep the body hydrated, help with digestion and improve metabolism.
According to The Swedish Food Agency Vitamin C works as an antioxidant and is necessary to build up the body’s cartilage and bone tissue. In addition, it helps the body absorb iron from food.
Therefore, many people have citrus as a natural and important part of their daily diet in the form of, for example, lemon water, juice or a raw orange or grapefruit.
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Therefore, it can affect the side effects
Above all, grapefruit and lime contain an enzyme that, in combination with the intake of, for example, birth control pills, can affect the body’s breakdown of the drug’s substance. This is reported by P4 Sjuhärad.
– The concentration of the birth control pill substances increases in the blood due to the fact that grapefruit contains an antioxidant, an enzyme that inhibits the breakdown of the drug, you could say, Anna Hagmanchief physician at the Mother Health Center in the Västra Götaland region, whom P4 Sjuhärad spoke to.
So, to clarify: the effect of the birth control pill becomes stronger and longer lasting if you eat a lot of citrus fruit in combination with it. This, in turn, can give an increased risk of the side effects that birth control pills bring with them.
Even blood pressure medication or blood fat-lowering drugs can be affected, according to Anna Hagman. Then the blood pressure can drop more and you can feel it through, for example, dizziness.
– It is important to always read the package leaflet, says Anna Hagman to P4 Sjuhärad.
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Protection unaffected
But you don’t have to worry about how citrus intake will affect the pill’s ability to protect against pregnancy.
– That is to say, it does not mean that you have a greater risk of becoming pregnant, says Anna Hagman P4 Seven-way.
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