Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I want to test the effects of grapefruit on cholesterol medication. How can I make a testable experiment that will yield quantitative results.

f.y.i: i am a high school senior in an ap biology class, however i am limited in my resources

Hi,

This is a very interesting topic. Grapefruit contains a class of compounds call polyphenolics that inhibit the breakdown of certain cholesterol-lowering medications called statins. This is a well documented phenomenon caused by the inhibition of an enzyme called CYP3A4. It would be difficult to do an experiment that replicated the metabolic interference and it would probably not be possible to get permission to do an experiment on humans.

Generally, with a science project, you want to choose a topic that is unique and design a well-controlled experiment that will answer a question you have asked. The question about grapefruit and cholesterol medication has already been answered, but there are lots of other related areas that you could investigate.

For example here is the table of contents form a book on the research on the subject of polyphenols:

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitl ... tents.html

Here's some general background information on polyphenols:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphenol_antioxidant

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf020926l

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/201610 ... a713983028

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... matography

I recommend doing more background reading and developing a science project based on research that others have done. For example, you might decide to purify the polyphenols from grapefruit and measure the effect of adding polyphenols on vitamin C stability. This would be a very complicated project, but you could select something that you could do with your available resources.

Please let us know if you have questions about planning your project.

Donna Hardy