Statins with pomegranate juice may increase the risk of rhabdomyolysis

This study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology 2006 Sep 1;98(5):705-6

Study title and authors:
Rhabdomyolysis associated with pomegranate juice consumption.

Sorokin AV, Duncan B, Panetta R, Thompson PD.
Section of Preventive Cardiology, Division of Cardiology, Henry Low Heart Center, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16923466

This paper reports the case of a man who developed rhabdomyolysis after drinking pomegranate juice while taking statins.

(i) A 48-year-old man had been taking ezetimibe and rosuvastatin for 17 months.
(ii) Three weeks before admission to hospital, he began drinking pomegranate juice (200 ml twice weekly).
(iii) On admission he had thigh pain and elevated serum creatine kinase level (138,030 U/L, normal is less than 200 U/L) and was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis.

Sorokin concludes: "This report suggests that pomegranate juice may increase the risk of rhabdomyolysis during rosuvastatin treatment".