Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health: This bitter citrus fruit helps support good health, but you may need to proceed with caution if you take medications.
Grapefruit, or Citrus × paradisi, has a tart taste and bitter pith (the white lining around the fruit) that may be off-putting to people who are used to sweeter citrus fruits. Still, grapefruit is a breakfast staple and makes a great snack at any part of the day while relieving thirst due to its high water content.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, There are many other possible benefits of grapefruit, such as supplying key nutrients that help manage your weight and support your immune system.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, You may need to avoid or limit grapefruit, its juice, and supplements if you take certain medications, such as those that lower your blood pressure or cholesterol. The compounds in grapefruit may cause your body to absorb too little or too much of those medications.
1. Controls Your Blood Sugar
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruit has a low glycemic index (GI), a measure of how quickly carbs raise your blood sugar.5 Low-GI foods do not raise blood sugar as quickly or as much as high-GI foods. People with type 2 diabetes may benefit more from choosing lower-GI foods to help control their blood sugar.
Your blood sugar reaction to food can vary widely, depending on how much and what you eat. For example, pairing carbs, like grapefruit, with healthy fat and lean protein helps reduce blood sugar spikes. Discuss your post-meal blood sugar targets with a healthcare provider.
2. Has Been Shown To Lower Cancer Risk
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruits are a rich source of vitamin C, with about 71.8 milligrams per serving. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, which helps prevent cell damage. Some evidence suggests a link between people with high amounts of vitamin C in their diets and a reduced risk of cancer.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Your body produces free radicals, which cause cell damage if you come into contact with harmful substances like radiation or tobacco. An imbalance of antioxidants and free radicals may increase the risk of cancer. the vitamin C in grapefruit may block the effects of free radicals and lower the risk of bladder, cervical, and renal cell cancers.
3. Has a High Water Content
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruit has one of the highest water contents of any fruit. One cup of pink or red grapefruit cut into sections contains 203 grams of water, or almost one cup. That water content makes the fruit good for overall health. Your body comprises about 60% water, which is necessary for your cells and organs to function.
Water has many other essential functions, such as:
Alleviating and preventing constipation
Maintaining your body temperature
Protecting your joints
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, About 20% of your daily fluid intake comes from food. Adding grapefruit to your diet may help you reach your fluid goals. Aim to pick the heaviest grapefruits, which typically contain the most water.
4. Helps You Manage Your Weight
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruit may help you lose and manage your weight if you eat it as part of a balanced, healthy diet. The fiber and water content in grapefruit is ideal for weight loss.
One cup of grapefruit, sectioned with juice, has about 3.7 grams of fiber. Fiber helps you lose weight by adding bulk to your meals, keeping you full for long periods. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) advises that women consume 25 grams of fiber daily and men eat 38 grams.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruit has a high water content but low calories. Consuming fewer calories than you burn from daily activities and exercise helps support weight loss.
Of note: Grapefruit itself is not a weight-loss tool. There’s not enough evidence to support weight-loss supplements using grapefruit extract or peel oil. Talk to a healthcare provider about the benefits and risks before starting a new supplement.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Instead, eating a balanced diet with grapefruit and regularly exercising supports weight loss. Those lifestyle changes help reduce the risk of health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.
5. Is High in Key Nutrients
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Research has found that consuming grapefruit improves diet quality by boosting your intake of several key nutrients.
For example, grapefruit is a source of nutrients like:
Fiber
Magnesium
Potassium
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, One-half of a red or pink grapefruit delivers 100% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C and 35% of that of vitamin A. That serving size contains 8% and 5% of the recommended daily values for fiber and potassium.2 Eating a diet rich in those nutrients helps improve longevity and reduce your risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
6. Might Lower Blood Pressure
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Grapefruit helps lower blood pressure due to its potassium content.1 Potassium helps neutralize the adverse effects of sodium and relaxes the walls of blood vessels.16 Research has found that even a 10-millimeter of mercury drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number) can lower heart disease, heart failure, and stroke.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Of note: Do not consume grapefruit or its juice if you take a blood pressure-lowering drug. Certain ones, such as Adalat CC (nifedipine) and Procardia XL, may adversely interact with grapefruit. Grapefruit may be harmful if you take a cholesterol-lowering drug, including Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Zocor (simvastatin).
7 . Might Treat Infections and Wounds
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, The nutrients in grapefruit may treat infections and speed wound healing. For example, some evidence suggests that grapefruit seed extract has antibacterial properties.
A study published in 2021, conducted in vitro (in a lab), found that grapefruit seed extract works against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is a bacteria that causes a staph infection resistant to many antibiotics. The researchers noted that grapefruit seed extract may be a natural alternative to many synthetic medicines.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, The vitamin C in grapefruit helps make collagen and boosts dermal fibroblast production. Collagen is a protein that helps heal wounds. Dermal fibroblasts are cells that repair the skin after injury.
8. Might Boost Your Energy and Mood
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, The scent of grapefruit may be helpful as a part of aromatherapy, which usually consists of using diffusion sprays and oils. Aromatherapy helps improve mood and physical energy.
Benefits Of Grapefruit For Health, Citrus scents are popular in aromatherapy, especially when used in essential oils. Some evidence suggests a link between grapefruit seed essential oil and reduced levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
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