Can grapefruit help you lose weight? High-fat diet is more effective

Hollywood actress Kylie Minogue once used the grapefruit diet to lose weight and controlled her daily calorie intake for 12 days, and successfully lost 4 kilograms. Grapefruit is high in fiber and low in calories, and has always been a fruit often recommended for weight loss. However, does grapefruit have a fat-burning effect for everyone who wants to lose weight? How can it help people with diabetes?

Grapefruit can help control weight and lower blood sugar for people who are accustomed to a high-fat diet.

According to the latest research in the United States, grapefruit can help control weight and lower blood sugar for people who are accustomed to a high-fat diet; but for people who are accustomed to a low-fat diet, it can only effectively reduce blood insulin and reduce the risk factors of obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Professor Hsieh Ming-che of the Department of Nutrition at Taipei Medical University also reminds diabetic patients not to eat more grapefruit just because they hear it can lower blood sugar. Because grapefruit is also a fruit and contains sugar, eating too much may increase your blood sugar instead of lowering it.

Eating high-fat foods with grapefruit juice can help control blood sugar

According to a report published in the journal PLOS ONE cited by Medical News Today, a research team from the University of California, Berkeley, found through experiments on mice that mice that ate a high-fat diet with grapefruit juice gained 18% less weight than mice that ate the same high-fat diet but only drank water; and the blood sugar levels of mice that drank grapefruit juice dropped by 13% to 17%. Similarly, insulin, known as the "obesity hormone," has also dropped significantly compared to before.

The research team also pointed out that for healthy mice that were already eating a low-fat diet, there was no visible effect of grapefruit juice on weight loss in terms of body weight. However, the mice on the low-fat diet were able to lower their blood sugar and insulin levels by drinking grapefruit juice. Professor Hsieh Ming-che, vice president of Taipei Medical University, said that grapefruit does have weight-loss ingredients, but the main reason it helps with weight loss is because it is rich in dietary fiber and water, which can bring a feeling of fullness. People should not regard grapefruit as a treasure and ignore other nutritious fruits and vegetables.

Grapefruit contains flavonoids that have the effect of lowering blood sugar

Joseph Napoli, a professor of nutrition who led the research, pointed out that although it is currently impossible to pinpoint which active compound in grapefruit helps with weight loss, the flavonoid "naringin" in grapefruit and metformin, a prescription drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, can achieve the same blood sugar-lowering effect in terms of blood sugar control.

Grapefruit can easily interact with drugs. If people are taking medications, they should first confirm with their doctor whether they can eat grapefruit to avoid the risk of drug interactions.

The benefits of grapefruit are not just weight loss. In 2012, the University of Chicago also proposed that grapefruit juice can enhance the efficacy of the anti-cancer drug Sirolimus. Earlier this year, the University of London also published a study pointing out that grapefruit juice can prevent the formation of kidney cysts.

【Health Tips】:

Grapefruit is prone to interacting with medications. Grapefruit contains flavonoids and coumarins, which inhibit the enzymes in the liver that metabolize drugs, causing an increase in the blood concentration of drugs. A report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2012 pointed out that grapefruit juice can produce dangerous reactions with 43 drugs, including cholesterol-lowering drugs such as atorvastatin and lovastatin, as well as some cancer and heart medications. Severe reactions may cause kidney failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, and even sudden death. If people are taking medication, they should first confirm with their doctor whether they can eat grapefruit to avoid the risk of drug interactions.

Diabetic patients should not eat more grapefruit thinking that it can lower blood sugar. Professor Xie Mingzhe reminds that grapefruit also contains sugar. When diabetic patients eat grapefruit, they can cut the grapefruit into 4 small portions and eat 1/4 of the amount at a time.