By: Linda Rodriguez, CNC
If you are taking
Coumadin (Warfarin), consider yourself advised against drinking cranberry
juice.
As of September
18, 2003 the British drug safety experts have reported that those taking warfarin
should limit or avoid drinking cranberry juice because of the risk of hemorrhage.
The Committee
on Safety of Medicines has received five reports, including one where someone
died, suggesting the juice and drug interact, increasing the potency of the
drug.
Until this possible
interaction between cranberry juice and warfarin has been investigated further,
it would be prudent for those taking warfarin to be advised to limit or avoid
drinking cranberry juice.
The fatal case
involved a man whose international normalized ratio (INR) dramatically increased
to more than 50 six weeks after he started to drink cranberry juice. The man
died from gastrointestinal and pericardial hemorrhage. In another case, the
INR returned to the therapeutic range after stopping cranberry juice.
Cranberry juice
has boomed in popularity in recent years and is often used by women to prevent
urinary tract infections.
We’re finding
out more and more about drug and food/supplement interactions. Now that we know
this, stop the cranberry juice if you take warfarin.
Source: Medscape,
Reuters Health Information, October, 2003.
