According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthy diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases. Fruits and vegetables provide your body with many of the vitamins and minerals that you need to be fit and healthy. What’s more, fruits and vegetables are delicious! February just so happens to be National Grapefruit Month, so be sure to enjoy this delectable fruit!
Grapefruits are packed with essential vitamins and minerals, plus fiber. Like all citrus fruits, grapefruit is high in Vitamin C, which helps bolster immune systems. Regular daily intake of Vitamin C may help ward off sickness, and while you could get heavy does from some concocted powder in a packet, why not get your Vitamin C from the natural tasty goodness of a fresh, ripe grapefruit?
The Journal of Medical Food published a study that suggests that grapefruit can help boost your body’s metabolism. The study divided patients into three groups. After 12 weeks of eating half a grapefruit before each meal, patients who ate grapefruit lost nearly 3 pounds more than those who were given a placebo.
Grapefruits are great for your health, but they are also quite an interesting fruit! Here are some fun facts about the grapefruit.
- The grapefruit is a hybrid fruit that was bred back in the 18th century. Grapefruits are a crossbreeding of oranges and pomelos, originating in Barbados. When the fruit was discovered, it was given the name “forbidden fruit”.
- In 1929, the Ruby Red grapefruit became the first grapefruit variety to receive a U.S. patent. The red grapefruit, discovered in Texas, has become so popular that it can be startling to cut into a grapefruit to find white fruit.
- Grapefruit trees can grow to be nearly 50 feet tall.
- In 2007, the United States produced 1,580,000 metric tons of grapefruit.
- The skin between the fruit and the rind of a grapefruit is called the pith.
- Grapefruit juice contains furanocoumarins that can inhibit the effects of certain medicinal drugs.
- Cooking grapefruit can remove the sourness from the fruit.
Medication Warning: You should not mix grapefruit and some medications. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Grapefruit can affect the way some drugs, including statins taken for high cholesterol, are absorbed by the liver. If you are taking a statin, talk to your doctor before consuming grapefruit juice or grapefruits.
Celebrate National Grapefruit Month by eating plenty of grapefruit along with other healthy fruits and vegetables!