Anonymous wrote:I've felt free to drink grapefruit-flavored seltzer even though I'm taking meds that could be affected by grapefruit, and I know I'm not alone in that. But I recently started looking at flavor essences for a different purpose (flavoring my own coffee, and no, I wasn't thinking of grapefruit flavored coffee), and that got me wondering whether grapefruit flavor really is just flavor.
This article is admittedly way above my head for the most part:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9333421/#
I think I understand some of the numbers, though. This excerpt
Furanocoumarins and their dimers have also been analyzed in commercial grapefruit juice. In a study comparing 28 white grapefruit juices, the average concentrations of bergamottin, GF-I-1 (paradisin A) and GF-I-4 (paradisin B) were 5.6 μg/mL, 0.32 μg/mL, and 0.96 μg/mL, respectively
tells me the total average concentration of furanocoumarins in the analyzed juices was 6.9 μg/mL. And this excerpt
By using HPLC coupled with MS, the total concentration of furanocoumarins in the grapefruit oil was found to be 2236.7 μg/mL.
tells me the total concentration of furanocoumarins in the tested grapefruit oil was over 300x the concentration in grapefruit juice.
Then the next question is, how much are grapefruit oils diluted when used to make beverages? The extracts sold online are supposed to be used at around 1% concentration in drinks, but they aren't pure flavoring, rather they're mixed with a carrier. Picking easy numbers, if the extract is 1/3 flavoring then a drink made with extract at 1% concentration would have the same furanocoumarin content as grapefruit juice.
Anyway, considering the meds I'm taking, I think I'll use the 12-pack of LeCroix Pamplemousse I have in the pantry, but I won't buy anymore.