Glucose & Grapefruit Juice

Any food or beverage that contains more than 5 grams of carbohydrate per serving will likely raise your blood glucose levels. Grapefruit juice contains 22.72 grams of carbohydrate per cup. The carbohydrate in grapefruit juice, mostly from sugar, will elevate your blood glucose levels. However, limited evidence suggests that properties in grapefruit may help stabilize them.

Glucose and Fiber

Grapefruit contains soluble fiber. Consuming soluble fiber can help slow your body’s absorption rate of glucose. If glucose is allowed to enter your bloodstream gradually rather than all at once, this helps stabilize your blood sugar and prevents sudden spikes in your blood sugar levels. To get the full glucose stabilizing benefits of fiber, squeeze your own grapefruit from whole fruit and include as much of the fiber-filled pulp as possible.

Metabolic Syndrome

If you have metabolic syndrome, your insulin doesn’t function properly. After you eat, the sugar from your foods is broken down and your insulin is supposed to bring this sugar – or glucose – into your cells to be used for energy. With metabolic syndrome, however, your cells are insulin resistant, so your body tries to overcompensate by making more and more insulin in hopes of getting the glucose properly into your cells. Consuming grapefruit and grapefruit juice may lessen insulin resistance and help stabilize your blood sugar levels, according to a Scripps Clinic study led by Ken Fujioka and published in the “Journal of Medicinal Food” in Spring 2006.

Weight Loss

According to Fujioka’s study, drinking grapefruit juice may also help you lose weight. Fujioka’s study involved 91 obese participants. The participants who consumed either grapefruit or grapefruit juice before meals for the 12 weeks of the study lost approximately one-third of a pound per week while eating their normal foods. Losing weight helps stabilize your blood sugar levels, which may help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Exercising moderately and losing 5 percent to 10 percent of your body weight can reduce your chances of developing diabetes by 58 percent, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Considerations

More research is needed to determine the relationship between grapefruit, blood glucose and insulin to properly evaluate its potential. If you decide to add grapefruit juice to your diet, avoid juice with added sugars. If you take medications, including over-the-counter drugs, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether you can safely take them with grapefruit juice. Properties in grapefruit and grapefruit juice inhibit your body's ability to metabolize some drugs, including birth control pills, statins, antihistamines and calcium channel blockers. If a medication you take reacts adversely with grapefruit, side effects include kidney failure and heart attacks.