Can drinking grapefruit juice induce weight loss and lower the risk of developing diabetes?
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley claims that Grapefruit juice may help combat the negative effects of a high-fat diet. The research published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE suggests that the fruit could replace “metformin”, a medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes, and may also be helpful in preventing weight gain as well as decreasing blood glucose levels.
Previously, several studies have also claimed that grapefruit could be used for cancer prevention, cleansing, detoxification, cellular regeneration, lowering cholesterol, heart health maintenance, Lupus nephritis, rheumatoid arthritis and weight loss. However, Andreas Stahl and Joseph Napoli, the UC Berkeley faculty members who led the new study say that validity of such studies can be questioned
In the new study, mice were randomly divided into six groups, including a control group that only drank water. The mice in the juice-drinking groups gained 18 percent less weight compared to the water-drinking group. The mice that drank grapefruit juice also showed improved levels of insulin, glucose and triacylglycerol.
Different group of mice was given naringin, a bioactive compound that gives grapefruit their bitter taste and has been previously linked to weight loss. Another group was given metformin, a glucose-lowering drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes. The grapefruit juice decreased blood glucose to the same degree as metformin.
The researchers speculate that, while naringin helps lower blood glucose levels, there’s some other ingredient(s) in grapefruit juice that contributes to weight loss, because the high-fat diet mice that received naringin had lower glucose levels but didn’t show variations in weight.
