Why Grapefruit Diets Are Effective in Weight Loss?

The grapefruit diet has started to gain popularity in the 1930s and actually peaked in the 1980s . Although the use of grapefruit in the diet has undergone several modifications over the years , however, there are only three types of diets grapefruit exceptional related that has been designated as the grapefruit diet .

The first two versions of the diet were generally considered " fad diets " and is promoted mainly in very low calorie diets ( VLCD ) or high-protein diets , where the consumption of grapefruit is the mainstay of the supply . The third is the regular use of derivatives in grapefruit or complement a program of overall weight loss .


However, the effectiveness of grapefruit on weight loss has been a very controversial issue because there was no concrete evidence to show that really help you lose weight. Fortunately, the publication of research in 2003 by Dr. Ken Fujioka helped shed light on the effectiveness of grapefruit weight loss .

Dr. Fujioka and his team of scientists from the Centre for Food and metabolic research at Scripps Clinic in California conducted a study in 91 overweight participants .

Participants were divided into four groups and each group put on one of the following : placebo capsules , grapefruit capsules , grapefruit juice and fresh grapefruit with their regular diets. Participants were invited to make further changes to your normal diet, but they were to participate in a 30-minute walk three times a week .

The researchers noted that three of the groups that had been placed in some form of grapefruit lost a lot of weight the group using a placebo. He also noted that the group had been placed in the fresh grapefruit actually lost more weight during the study.

According to the study , eat half " fresh grapefruit " before meals and practice regular daily exercise can help people lose about 3.6 pounds in 12 weeks. The study also says that drinking a glass of " grapefruit juice " before meals combined with regular daily exercise can also help people lose about 3.3 pounds in the same period of 12 weeks.

Although the study did not use grapefruit as part of a " grapefruit diet " , however, was able to put to rest the criticism of most experts on the effectiveness of grapefruit on weight reduction. In fact, the study entitled "The effects of grapefruit on weight and insulin resistance : relationship to metabolic syndrome " was designed to measure the effectiveness of grapefruit and grapefruit products such as juices and capsules to reduce the weight and treatment of insulin resistance .

Insulin, a hormone normally secreted into the bloodstream whenever there is an abnormal increase in blood sugar . Insulin secretion from cells of the body to absorb the excess signals in blood glucose , convert and store the same in the form of glycogen in the liver cells and muscle, and fat in fat cells ( adipose tissue) .

However, insulin sensitivity can be seriously hampered by overeating. Overeating usually causes an increase in insulin secretion , which eventually causes the insulin receptors that are normally found in the cells become "dormant" or "de- sensitized" to the effects of insulin. This condition causes the body to begin mainly convert most of blood glucose to fat for storage in adipose tissue because there is a limited storage capacity , of course , available in the liver and muscle cells .

Thus, insulin resistance leads to becoming overweight people at risk of developing heart disease or stroke. Insulin resistance is generally considered a precursor to Type II diabetes , which has a prevalence of 90 % among people with diabetes .

Once insulin levels remain constant , the body becomes more efficient at burning fat because there is less glucose available to be converted into body fat. This is due to the fact that eating or drinking grapefruit juice while hunger and just before essentially reduces insulin levels in the body and stimulates the mechanism of fat burning in the body, so meals the food ingested subsequently burned for energy instead of storing them as fat .

The study indicates that , since grapefruit is effective in helping the body to reduce and regulate the levels of sugar in the blood and reduce the secretion of insulin, which increases the sensitivity , weight loss , and become in the one of the physical effects on the human body .

However, the process is a little more complex and there are some questions that others claiming that particular ingredient in grapefruit or a compound that has these effects. In addition, the working mechanism accurately grapefruit and its derivatives help restore insulin sensitivity are not yet fully understood.

This study showed categorical , however, that despite these shortcomings , grapefruit and its derivatives actually help people lose weight. Therefore , the combination of the ability of grapefruit weight loss to a active lifestyle exercise regularly and eat a healthy balanced diet is a sure way to achieve a healthy body weight and durable