Grapefruit helps in weight loss

Eating half of a grapefruit thrice daily, before meals may help people shed unwanted weight. Thus adding grapefruit to your diet may be a good idea. Moreover, regular grapefruit-eaters experience a decrease in insulin, which in excess can increase the risk of weight gain and cardiovascular problems.Researchers from the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California, found that there's something inert about fresh grapefruit that helps in weight loss. To investigate grapefruit's effect on weight loss, researchers asked 100 obese people who were not trying to lose weight to eat grapefruit in various forms, and recorded how their weight changed over 12 weeks.Each group of patients either ate one-half of a grapefruit, or drank a glass of grapefruit juice, or took a pill containing grapefruit extracts, or drank apple juice three times a day before each meal. Participants were told not to vary their eating habits from before the study.

By the end of the study period, people who ate fresh grapefruit had lost 3-1/2 pounds without doing anything. These patients also experienced a decrease in insulin. Grapefruit juice and pills of grapefruit extract were less helpful in shedding pounds. However, both fresh grapefruit and the juice appeared to encourage weight loss in people with metabolic syndrome -- which includes several disorders such as abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and unhealthy cholesterol levels that set the stage for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Previous research has shown that grapefruit does not ramp up metabolism, suggesting that the fruit may encourage weight loss by lowering insulin levels.

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