Grapefruit and Birth control?

I have heard of that. Not sure how accurate it is however when I was on BC I never tested the theory.

food can not control hormon pills.

the only thing that makes bc unaffective are antibiotics.

I actually had my yearly pelvic appt yesterday, and came across your post beforehand, so I for sure added your question to my list for my gyno.

She said there are medications it can interfere with, but no, BC was not one of them.

Now, I am on the highly paranoid side when it comes to this type of stuff, and even after her telling me that, deep down I don't believe her. I will most likely avoid grapefruit, I don't need or want any surprises in this area...have 1 darling girl, I'm good.

Just wanted to pass on her answer, you could always give your dr's office a call and ask the question of them as well, a little more reassurance maybe from someone you know.

Another item (worry) for my list of why life would be so much easier as a man!

The components of combination oral contraceptives are metabolized by the CYP450 enzyme system, specifically CYP3A4. Grapefruit juice is a CYP3A4 inhibitor, thus consumption of grapefruit or grapefruit juice will INCREASE exposure to these hormones. The danger in this combination is not reduced efficacy, but increased risk of side-effects, some of which are serious, e.g., thrombosis. Seville oranges, which is found in orange marmalade, behaves similarly.

I googled grapefruit and statins, which I have heard about from my mother in law, I got hits from the Mayo Clinic, the NHS and the FDA.

I googled grapefruit and birth control and I got Marie Claire.

I wouldn't worry too much.

For what it's worth, I called my BC's hotline when I was on a vitamin C regimen, which is what interacts in the way you're concerned with.

They basically said that yes, vitamin C interacts, but you need to take a lot to do it. Like grams. Like a grapefruit diet, you know? With studies, everything that has a probable side effect or interaction, however small, has to be included in the warnings. If you're having a grapefruit with breakfast, you're probably okay.

The components of combination oral contraceptives are metabolized by the CYP450 enzyme system, specifically CYP3A4. Grapefruit juice is a CYP3A4 inhibitor, thus consumption of grapefruit or grapefruit juice will INCREASE exposure to these hormones. The danger in this combination is not reduced efficacy, but increased risk of side-effects, some of which are serious, e.g., thrombosis. Seville oranges, which is found in orange marmalade, behaves similarly.

This. It's difficult to estimate the clinical outcomes because there are large inter-individual differences in drugs metabolism and not many clinical trials have been made (check this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12749182.
Just to be sure, doctors tend to discourage patients from eating grapefruit on a regular basis. (I'm not a doc, I'm a med student)

That study tested the response of eight women, with no control group. Pretty sad, really.

This. It's difficult to estimate the clinical outcomes because there are large inter-individual differences in drugs metabolism and not many clinical trials have been made (check this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12749182.
Just to be sure, doctors tend to discourage patients from eating grapefruit on a regular basis. (I'm not a doc, I'm a med student)

That study tested the response of eight women, with no control group. Pretty sad, really.

I hate it when these studies have a small group or no control. Why did they even bother doing the study if we're looking at data that is not representative of the population nor even statistically sig? Didn't they take the same science classes I did warning us that this simply doesn't fly?

Pretty sad indeed, that's why I haven't said "STOP EATING GRAPEFRUIT OR YOU'LL DIE TOMORROW"
There's not enough clinical data, so doctors prefer to "play it safe" and discourage patients from eating grapefruit.

I further point out that this study regards hormone replacement therapy in post meno-pausal women, not oral contraceptives for fertile women, in case that needed it.

This. It's difficult to estimate the clinical outcomes because there are large inter-individual differences in drugs metabolism and not many clinical trials have been made (check this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12749182.
Just to be sure, doctors tend to discourage patients from eating grapefruit on a regular basis. (I'm not a doc, I'm a med student)

That study tested the response of eight women, with no control group. Pretty sad, really.

I hate it when these studies have a small group or no control. Why did they even bother doing the study if we're looking at data that is not representative of the population nor even statistically sig? Didn't they take the same science classes I did warning us that this simply doesn't fly?

Pretty sad indeed, that's why I haven't said "STOP EATING GRAPEFRUIT OR YOU'LL DIE TOMORROW"
There's not enough clinical data, so doctors prefer to "play it safe" and discourage patients from eating grapefruit.

Could you quote the doctors recommending women limit their intake of grapefruit in case it reduces the efficacy of their oral contraceptive? That is what the author was looking for, I think.

Maybe you could get a copper IUD? It makes sense since you NEVER want kids and they last 10 years... and the copper one is nonhormonal so it probably won't interact with grapefruit juice.

Could you quote the doctors recommending women limit their intake of grapefruit in case it reduces the efficacy of their oral contraceptive? That is what the author was looking for, I think.

Yes, not because it reduces efficacy (as already stated) but because it increases estrogen levels. It's written on my texbooks and I experienced it during my training. Doctors know it's probably an excess of caution (at least in this case, NOT when dealing with other drugs like carbamazepine) but it's common practice to do so.

Anecdotes don't carry much weight with me when it comes to medical matters

Maybe you could get a copper IUD? It makes sense since you NEVER want kids and they last 10 years... and the copper one is nonhormonal so it probably won't interact with grapefruit juice.

Or consider getting something permanent done? Only because you said you NEVER want kids, so that way you wouldn't have to worry regardless of what you eat.

To address some of the comments:
1) Vitamin C has nothing to do with this issue as someone above stated. It is furanocoumarins that are causing the inhibition of CYP3A4. It is found in grapefruit and sour (Seville) oranges. It is NOT an issue related to all citrus fruits.
2) The components of BC pills are not the only compounds affected by this interaction. Anything that is CYP3A4 substrate can potentially be affected. As someone else mentioned, the interaction with statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) and carbamazepine can be serious due to the increase in exposure. Further, some research indicates that grapefruit may affect other pathways and transporters as well and thus impact other substrates.
3) The design of the study quoted above is standard for drug-interaction studies, i.e, they are not typically placebo-controlled and the number of subjects are usually small. Each subject acts as their own control and are dosed with, for example, the substrate alone (the reference treatment) and in combination with the other drug or substance (the test treatment), thereby allowing for evaluation of the potential change in the pharmacokinetics of the reference drug with and without the potential interacting drug. This is scientifically sound. In addition, the duration of dosing is often short, but is long enough to elicit a potential interaction. Dosing is also appropriate in these studies. This design also helps to address differences in the extent of metabolism in different people (as Sbarella mentioned).
4) The drug that's typically used to test the effect of CYP3A4 inhibition on another drug is ketoconazole (an antifungal), which is a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor. Grapefruit may not be as potent an inhibitor as keto, but you will likely find more info on keto interactions on the web.
5) Someone also mentioned St John's wort, which is an inducer of the CYP3A4 enzyme, which results in a decrease in exposure to the components of BC pills. Some antibiotics do this also, thus the classic recommendation to use an alternate method of BC if you use an antibiotic while on BC pills.
6) Lastly, the interaction with grapefruit is not influenced much by when you ingest it in relation to when you take your BC pills as the effect can last for 24 hours or longer.