March, 2001

by Mary J. Shomon

Researchers from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics have reported that users of the popular allergy drug "Allegra," the trade name for the antihistamine fexofenadine, should avoid taking the drug with juice. Taking the drug with juice caused test subjects to absorb only about one third as much of the drug as when taking it with water.

Specifically, the researchers looked at grapefruit juice, orange juice or apple juice, and all interfered with absorption of Allegra.