Bergapten (BP)

Bergapten is a psoralen found in bergamot essential oil, in other citrus essential oils, and in grapefruit juice. It is the chemical in bergamot oil that causes phototoxicity. Bergapten-free bergamot essential oil or synthetics are now used in perfumery. The flavonoids, naringin and naringenin and the furanocoumarin, bergapten (5-methoxypsoralen), were detected in some fresh grapefruit and commercial grapefruit juices but were not detected in other fruit juices tested (orange; orange with apple base; dark grape; orange and mango with apple base; orange, peach, passion fruit juice).Differences in the concentrations of these three constituents, which have potential for drug interaction, may contribute to the variability in pharmacokinetics of CYP3A4 drugs and some contradictory results of drug interaction studies with grapefruit juice.