I stopped at Mallam Bello’s place to buy pineapple and behold right in front of me was one of my favourite member of the CITRUS family: Grapefruit
I love the fruit, it’s one of my favourite though it requires work to take of the white membrane in between the pulp to enjoy its sweetness. You can still eat it whole though, you just have to endure the slightly bitter taste of the white membranes.
I love the really big ones, the pulp can full up a breakfast bowl and it is very filling. Take it with some mint you are good to go. I also love to take grapefruit as a drink or smoothie, mix it with pineapple and mint and it’s a winner any day. It’s also lovely in salads, especially mixed with avocado.
Grapefruits can be found all year-round with peak season around October to April. It has a mix of both sweet, bitter and sour at the same time. Although, all that, is subject to how it is eaten.
Grapefruit is special and interesting, It can be both beneficial and harmful to a person’s health. Let’s start with the benefits.
It contains a range of essential vitamins and minerals that may help promote healthy skin and protect against various conditions. They may also play a role in weight loss
Grapefruit is low in calories but very rich in nutrients. It is also an excellent source of vitamin A and C, it is low on the glycemic index. This means that it provides nutrients but does not have a significant negative impact on a person’s blood sugar levels.
According to Medical News Today, a study carried out, describes grapefruit as “significantly associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.” The authors also note that grapefruit contains naringin.
They go on to say that naringin appears to have similar properties to an inhibitor that doctors use to improve glucose tolerance in people with type 2 diabetes.
Regularly consuming grapefruit is thought to improve heart health by reducing risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. In one study, people who ate grapefruit three times daily for six weeks experienced significant reductions in blood pressure over the course of the study. It is believed that the nutrients in grapefruit have long term benefits for weight control and obesity prevention.
Grapefruit and medication: A cautionary note – According to Harvard Health
Grapefruit can mean danger when combined with some popular drugs used for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression and birth control.
Grapefruit has an ingredient known as Furanocoumarins. It deactivates a vital enzyme called CYP3A4 in the small intestine that breaks down drugs, which can cause the amount of the drug in your blood to go up.
It also affects the level of oestrogen hormone in the body, when it’s taken with contraceptives, can increase the amount of estrogen in your body, and high estrogen levels in your body can increase your risk for certain conditions like blood clots.
Grapefruit juice is broken down only very slowly, which means that it has a cumulative effect if taken daily. Therefore even if it was taken for some days but stopped before starting a new drug, it could still have the same effect on the drugs.
So in a nutshell, grapefruit is highly nutritious, has a lot of health benefits, but once you are on any form of medication, just stay away from it. It is obviously a jealous fruit, it will heal you and take care of you but not with the help of Doctors or Pharmacist
So, is this therapy or not? I believe it is. 