Grapefruit is known as one of the most powerful citrus fruits. It is rich in fiber, antioxidants, and other essential nutrients and vitamins. However, some people prefer its sweeter cousin, like orange. The reason being that it has sweet and sometimes sour taste. But the best thing about grapefruit is that it is proven by science to help the body and overall health in many ways. Let’s look at some of the health benefits it has to offer.
Grapefruit Contains More Water Than Any Other Fruit
The first thing that needs to be mentioned about grapefruits is that they contain more water than any other type of fruit. In fact, grapefruit is 92% water. As a result, it is an ideal fruit for your overall health. Since the body requires water to carry its day to day operations, water is an essential intake for it. Furthermore, experts state that almost 20% of our daily fluid intake comes from the food we consume. Therefore, adding grapefruit to your diet is doing to provide a sufficient amount of water without you even noticing.
Grape Fruit Might Help With Weight Loss
Several studies have been conducted to determine the relationship between Grapefruit and weight loss. And these studies have concluded that people who drink grapefruit juice before each meal tend to lose comparatively more weight than people who do not. While many studies have displayed positive findings, others fail to recognize any significant effects. Therefore, if you thought that grapefruit for weight loss is ideal, it is yet to be proven once and for all whether grapefruit has anything to do with it. Regardless, everyone should include fruits and vegetables in their daily diet.
Grapefruit pith is good for you
Most of us while we are about to eat a grapefruit peel the outer layer away and that is the way it is done. Furthermore, we also tend to peel the white flesh off as well. That is called pith and you should not be doing it. The reason being that pith contains a huge amount of vitamins and powerful antioxidants that help improve your glucose reactions. Although the grapefruit pith is more bitter than the oranges but eating them along with the fruit has its benefits.
Grapefruit helps with “bad” cholesterol
A study conducted in 2006 concluded that a grapefruit a day can help reduce bad cholesterol by as much as 15.5%. In the study, the researchers experimented on 57 patients aged 39 to 72 who had high cholesterol levels and had undergone bypass surgery. While some participants ate grapefruit daily, others in the control group did not. As a result, grapefruit eaters especially those eating red experienced a drop in bad cholesterol while those in the control group did not. This is good news for people who have cholesterol issues and face risks concerning the heart when it comes to eating different fruits.
Grape Fruits Helps Your Immune System
Another important health benefit of grapefruit is that it helps improve your immune system. The reason being that it contains vitamins A and C in each serving. Both these vitamins help your immune system fight against cells that might harm your body. In fact, some researchers have also stated that not having enough vitamin C can damage your immune system, especially if you are a senior. In addition to that, while grapefruit might not help with preventing cold but it surely reduces the duration of a cold.
Grapefruit can lower triglyceride levels
Luckily and fortunately, another one amongst Th is that they can be good for your heart. It helps reduce the levels of triglycerides. Triglycerides are another type of “bad cholesterol”. It can clog your arteries. Furthermore, the same study that found that eating one grapefruit a day lowers cholesterol levels also found that it helps reduce the triglycerides level by as much as 27%. This was actually in patients who were already suffering from coronary artery disease and had high risks of heart attacks along with other complications.
Grapefruit can help lower blood pressure
It has been said that grapefruit helps decrease systolic blood pressure. However, not by a lot but about five points. Therefore, this definitely some good data. Researchers state that the drop in blood pressure might be due to high potassium levels. Furthermore, potassium neutralizes the negative effects of sodium as well. However, if you are already taking blood pressure-lowering drugs then you should not be consuming grapefruit. It might drop your blood pressure instantly below the requirement.
Grapefruit does not mix with allergy medications
Grapefruits contain natural chemicals such as furanocoumarin that affects the way your liver metabolizes certain drugs. What this means is that the presence of these compounds along with grapefruit and certain allergy medications such as Allegra or Claritin can increase the drug level in your bloodstream, higher than the recommended levels. Therefore, if and when taking such drugs, avoid eating grapefruits.
Grapefruit may help control blood sugar
Grapefruit features a low glycemic index, which is around 25. What this means is that it does not raise blood sugar as many other foods like white bagel or watermelon etc. A study conducted in 2006 found that those who ate grapefruit before a meal experienced a low spike in their insulin level two hours later than those who did not. Plus, grapefruit was associated with less insulin resistance as well. While the results are promising, you should test your blood sugar before eating grapefruit.
Grapefruit may help prevent cancer
As expected grapefruit might help prevent cancer as well. A large study conducted in Japan found that people who ate citrus throughout the week had lower chances of developing cancer, especially pancreatic and prostate. Since as mentioned earlier, it contains a large concentration of antioxidants as well, it ultimately becomes a powerful fruit helping you fight against several types of cancer including the skin. Yet another grapefruit benefits for skin as well.
The author of the study also stated that it might be due to the compounds found in citrus fruits that help reduce inflammation and stop cancer cells from spreading. Furthermore, they might also help repair damaged DNA, which encourages the development of tumors.
Final Word
As you can see there are a lot of important health benefits that grapefruit offers, it comes down to how and when you incorporate them into your daily diet. We will suggest adding it to your breakfast so that your body gets an instant boost of protection and energy while you prepare to tackle the rest of the day.