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Amiodarone

Also indexed as: Amidox, Cordarone, Cordarone X, Pacerone

Illustration

Amiodarone is a drug occasionally used to treat life-threatening arrhythmias of the heart.

Summary of Interactions with Vitamins, Herbs, and Foods
In some cases, a herb or supplement may appear in more than one category, which may seem contradictory. For clarification, read the full article for details about the summarized interactions.

Beneficial May Be Beneficial: Side effect reduction/prevention—Taking these supplements may help reduce the likelihood and/or severity of a potential side effect caused by the medication.

Vitamin E
Avoid Avoid: Adverse interaction—Avoid these supplements when taking this medication because taking them together may cause undesirable or dangerous results.

Grapefruit juice

Pomegranate juice*
Depletion or interference

None known
Supportive interaction

None known
Reduced drug absorption/bioavailability

None known

An asterisk (*) next to an item in the summary indicates that the interaction is supported only by weak, fragmentary, and/or contradictory scientific evidence.

Interactions with Dietary Supplements

Vitamin E
Test tube research on human lung tissue suggests that vitamin E might reduce lung toxicity caused by amiodarone.1 More research is needed to further investigate this possibility.

Interactions with Foods and Other Compounds

Grapefruit juice
In one controlled study, drinking grapefruit juice while taking amiodarone dramatically increased blood levels of the drug.2 Consequently, people taking amiodarone should avoid drinking grapefruit juice (and eating grapefruit) to prevent potentially serious side effects.

Pomegranate juice
Pomegranate juice has been shown to inhibit the same enzyme that is inhibited by grapefruit juice.3 4 The degree of inhibition is about the same for each of these juices. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect that pomegranate juice might interact with amiodarone in the same way that grapefruit juice does.

References

1. Kachel DL, Moyer TP, Martin WJ 2d. Amiodarone-induced injury of human pulmonary artery endothelial cells: Protection by alpha-tocopherol. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1990;254:1107–12.

2. Libersa CC, Brique SA, Motte KB, et al. Dramatic inhibition of amiodarone metabolism induced by grapefruit juice. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2000;49:373–8.

3. Sorokin AV, Duncan B, Panetta R, Thompson PD. Rhabdomyolysis associated with pomegranate juice consumption. Am J Cardiol 2006;98:705–6.

4. Summers KM. Potential drug-food interactions with pomegranate juice. Ann Pharmacother 2006;40:1472–3.