Grapefruit

Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)

Throw out the pizza and beer

Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)

Oh, get those jelly donuts out of here

Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)

Might seem a little severe

Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)

I’m gettin’ tired of my big fat rear…”

– “The Grapefruit Diet, Weird Al Yankovic

I don’t usually eat grapefruit, but every once a while I’ll get the urge to take a bite or two and as soon as the lip puckering tang gets in my mouth, I’ll remember why I don’t like the stuff. Apparently I’m not alone. Google “I hate grapefruit” and you’ll get nearly 578,00 hits! According to a poll of 8,066 respondents taken on the website Amplicate, 26 percent were grapefruit averse, many of whom would no doubt concur with the American playwright Harry Crews who wrote in his biography that when he first tasted the sour fruit, “I only had to touch my lips to my piece to know something was wrong, bad wrong.”

The grapefruit, which has been around for a couple of hundred years is the accidental love child of two types of citrus, the pomelo and the sweet orange which were inadvertently hybridized by Caribbean farmers in the early 1700’s. It’s Latin name “citrus paradisi” (citrus of paradise), refers to its tropical origins and it’s the only citrus fruit that did not originate in Asia. Originally called “The Forbidden Fruit”, possibly as result of its manmade, supposedly non-divine origins, it got the name “grapefruit” in the middle of the 19th century in reference to the grape like cluster in which it grows in.

While the taste may be intolerable, as it turns out grapefruits contain a lot of nutritional and medicinal value. They’re loaded with electrolytes like potassium and magnesium for energy. They’ve got folate and Vitamin B5 for the skin and digestive tract. They’re also one of nature’s richest sources of immune boosting Vitamin C. Eating grapefruit is a great weight loss strategy too. They’re full of fat busting enzymes and filling fiber, they’re naturally low in calories and for over 80 years they’ve been cornerstone of The Hollywood Diet, a high protein eating protocol that recommends consuming some form of grapefruit at every meal.

One of the most therapeutically significant phytochemicals in grapefruit is called naringenin, a substance that has been touted for it anti-inflammatory, and pain relieving properties. An article in the July, 2016 edition of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry calls naringenin a “promising component to treat…inflammatory pain”. Research published in Journal of Natural Products in July, 2015, found that the medicinally active plant chemical inhibits damage caused from solar radiation and concluded that using it “may be a promising way to control skin disease”. According to a study published in August 2010, researchers from Hebrew University in Jerusalem reported that naringenin increases insulin sensitivity, improves fat burning biochemistry and may hold promise for diabetics as a natural compound for improving blood sugar control. A curious property of naringenin is its ability to interact with certain prescription drugs. It slows down detoxification of pharmaceuticals in the intestine and liver, interfering with their breakdown, potentizing them and extending their duration of action. This effect is prominent with calcium channel blockers, anti-histamines, anti-anxiety drugs and the hormone estrogen. Also, some cholesterol medications are particularly prone to potentiation by the plant chemical. According to the textbook an “Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences”, the bioavailability of three top selling statin drugs, Mevacor, Lipitor and Zocor can be enhanced by up to 1500%!

Grapefruits are also rich in medicinal substances that may protect against cancer including limonene, lycopene and quercetin. They’re a source of beta carotene, a Vitamin A precursor an anti-oxidant important for eye health. Even the inedible components can provide important therapeutic benefits; the peels contain bromelain, an enzyme that can improve protein digestion and can be used topically as a skin peel, and the seeds are partially composed of sterols, vitamin E and minerals all of which combine to deliver a notable anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial punch. Cut a grapefruit in quarter and drop into a blender, peel, seeds and with a few cups of water and you can make your own pre-meal digestive support beverage or blend some up with coconut oil for anti-bacterial skin smoothing cleanser or makeup remover.