Healthy Living & Prevention in El Paso

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It’s grapefruit season!

It’s grapefruit season!

27 Jan 2021 by Ted Escobedo   2 min read

Grapefruit is 92% water, giving it one of the highest water contents of any fruit. That makes it good for overall health. Several studies have shown that people who eat half a fresh grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice before each meal lose more weight than people who do not.

Not all studies have shown the same weight-loss benefit and scientists don't know if the effect seen in the studies was specifically due to grapefruit—or filling up on a low-calorie food in general—but fruits and vegetables should always be part of your strategy to lose or maintain weight. What is 100% ironclad fact: Grapefruit delivers a lot of nutrition and water for very few calories. The outer layer flesh, the pith is very rich in antioxidants and nutrients and also soluble fiber which is going to help you feel fuller and impact your glucose reactions.

The pith of grapefruit is also very high in fiber and can help lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and possibly even colon cancer risk.

A grapefruit a day may help lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels by as much as 15.5%, according to a 2006 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In the study, researchers looked at 57 patients ages 39 to 72 who had high cholesterol and had undergone bypass surgery for heart trouble. For one month, some ate a grapefruit daily (either red or white) while others, the control group, did not. Grapefruit eaters, particularly those eating red, had a drop in bad cholesterol, while the control group did not.

This is great news for your heart. LDL cholesterol is a type of fat that can build up in your arteries and raise the risk for heart attack and stroke. But if you are taking a cholesterol-lowering drug, don't add a grapefruit for extra effect—the FDA issued a warning in 2012 about interactions with such medications. Grapefruit can inhibit an enzyme in the intestines called CYP3A4, (although some other fruits may do the same, grapefruit is the most documented) which plays a key role in breaking down certain medications in the body. The fruit, particularly the juice, has been shown to result in extra-high, even potentially dangerous levels of certain drugs in the body when consumed at the same time.

Source: https://www.health.com/food/grapefruit-facts

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