Can You Eat Grapefruit Membranes?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture launched the new diet guide called MyPlate to replace the food pyramid in June 2011. This new guide recommends you include a serving of fruit at each meal. Grapefruit, with its high vitamin C content, makes a healthy addition to your diet. But eating it might seem a bit difficult when trying to avoid the bitter membranes. But if you can get over the bitterness, you can eat the entire grapefruit, including the membrane, as you would an orange.

History

The grapefruit originated in the West Indies, and is a hybridization between the orange and pummelo, a distant relative fruit of the grapefruit. The first grapefruit was about the size of an orange and was referred to as the "forbidden fruit." The grapefruit arrived in the United States in the early 1800s, but did not gain popularity until the second half of the century. Grapefruit varieties, including pink and red, are mutations of the original grapefruit. As a tropical fruit, grapefruit grows best in warm climates, and in the United States, it is grown in Florida, Texas, California and Arizona.

Grapefruit Membranes

Grapefruit membranes are chewy, fibrous and bitter, and are often discarded when eating a grapefruit. But eating the membrane offers a number of health benefits, including increased fiber intake. Fiber helps improve bowel function and satiety, and also reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes. The grapefruit membrane might also contain a substance that helps promote weight loss, according to a report from the website 10News.com.

Grapefruit Nutrition

Grapefruit with or without the membrane is low in calories, high in vitamin C, and is a good source of fiber and vitamin A. They also contain phytochemicals, such as flavonoids and limonoids, which protect your body against free-radical oxidation. One half of a large grapefruit without its membranes contains 53 calories, 1 gram of protein, 0.2 grams of total fat, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 1.8 grams of fiber, 20 milligrams of calcium, 231 milligrams of potassium, 57 milligrams of vitamin C and 1,539 International Units of vitamin A. Eating the grapefruit membrane increases fiber consumption by two-thirds, according to Pittman and Davis.

Concerns About Grapefruit

Grapefruit makes a healthy addition to your diet, but it is not recommended for everyone. A substance in grapefruit increases your body's absorption of certain medications, such as calcium-channel blockers and cyclosporin, causing dangerous increases in blood levels of the medication. If you take any prescription medication, you should consult your doctor or pharmacist about whether it is safe for you to include grapefruit or its juice in your diet.