8

There seem to be many people that claim grapefruit, in one form or another, helps dieters with weight loss.

Is there any good academically-rigorous evidence to support any of these claims?

Some of the claims:

People who ate half of a grapefruit before each meal (without making any other dietary changes) shed an average of three and a half pounds over 12 weeks, found a study from the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California."

Source: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20564855_4,00.html

The fruit's compounds aid in fat burning and stabilizing blood-sugar and insulin levels,' says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, author of Doctor's Detox Diet.

Source: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20564855_4,00.html

Further evidence of notability is the 'Grapefruit Diet', which Wikipedia describes as a fad diet.

Sklivvz
  • 78,578
  • 29
  • 321
  • 428
John R
  • 181
  • 3
  • 2
    This would appear to be the referenced study: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2006.9.49?journalCode=jmf – Oddthinking Jul 22 '12 at 16:13
  • 1
    According to this abstract, similar weight loss resulted from either water or grapefruit juice prior to meals which leads to a conclusion that "a low energy dense dietary preload in a caloric restricted diet is a highly effective weight loss strategy." However, those who drank grapefruit juice also "experienced significantly greater benefits in lipid profiles". ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3039556 – John R Jul 22 '12 at 17:13
  • 1
    Maybe I'm not familiar with the protocol here - but what is the question being asked, exactly? – Mark Beadles Jul 22 '12 at 17:31
  • 1
    Mark, There seems to be many people (as evidenced by my references) that claim grapefruit,in one form or another, helps dieters with weight loss. Is there any good academically-rigorous evidence to support any of these claims? – John R Jul 22 '12 at 17:58
  • 2
    @John R: I added it to the main question body to make it more clear. – nico Jul 22 '12 at 18:01
  • Related: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/803/does-celery-help-you-lose-weight – Sklivvz Jul 22 '12 at 21:05
  • Possible duplicate: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5122/is-it-true-that-eating-some-foods-burns-calories – Sklivvz Jul 22 '12 at 21:05
  • 1
    @Sklivvz Question 5122 comes down to "Do any foods actually contain less calories than it takes to chew and digest them". Not the same. – John R Jul 22 '12 at 21:11
  • @JohnR I think that should be decided by the community. I am not taking a strong position here :-) – Sklivvz Jul 22 '12 at 21:16

0 Answers0