Grapefruit is an excellent source of nutrition. It also contains ingredients that make it useful for the prevention and sometimes the treatment of various conditions and illnesses.
Pink grapefruit and red grapefruit have even more health attributes than white grapefruit. Both pink and red grapefruit contain lycopene, a powerful carotenoid that improves heart health and also operates as an anti-cancer element.
Grapefruit Nutrition
According to "The World's Healthiest Foods," grapefruit is an "excellent" source of vitamin A and a "good" source of fiber, potassium, and vitamin B5. Dr. Barry, author of "The Top 100 Zone Foods," writes that grapefruit is also an excellent source of vitamin C.
Pink Grapefruit Nutrition
Pink and red grapefruit have even more nutritional value than white grapefruit. Pink and red grapefruit contain much more vitamin A than white grapefruit. They are also richer in antioxidants.
More significantly, pink and red grapefruit contain lycopene, a powerful carotenoid, which "appears to have anti-tumor powers, according to "The World's Healthiest Foods." In addition, lycopene has other valuable nutritional and disease-fighting powers. Lycopene is also the substance that gives pink and red grapefruit their color.
Health Benefits of Grapefruit
Grapefruit contains naringenin, a flavonoid that gives grapefruit its bitter flavor and also blocks the uptake of fatty acids that can prevent our bodies from using carbohydrates efficiently. This makes grapefruit, which also has less than 40 calories, an excellent food source for people trying to lose weight.
Grapefruit also contains pectin, a soluble fiber that slows progression of hardening of the arteries.
A study cited in "A 2 Z of Health, Beauty and Fitness" found that three glasses of grapefruit juice daily reduced the enzyme that activates cancer-causing chemicals from cigarette smoking.
Health Benefits of Pink Grapefruit
The lycopene in pink and red grapefruit help keep LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, from oxidizing and damaging artery walls. "The World's Healthiest Foods" cites a study showing that pink and red grapefruit are twice as effective as white grapefruit for lowering LDL.
Pink grapefruit and green tea may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, according to a study in the "Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition." The combination may slow the progression of the slow-growing cancer of the prostate.
Cautions
Certain drugs increase in potency when combined with grapefruit juice. So, you should check with your doctor before consuming grapefruit if you are taking prescription medications. Don't eat grapefruit if you take statins, for example. In severe cases, this will cause paralysis or weakness, which usually is temporary unless the muscle damage is severe.
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