Study Revives Interest In Grapefruit Juice As Weight Loss Strategy

A U.S. study in mice fed a high-fat diet has determined that drinking clarified, pulp-free grapefruit juice reduced weight gain by 18 percent, but the researchers were not able to identify what compound in the juice was responsible. The findings revive interest in a fad diet that was purportedly debunked by earlier studies. The researchers gave one group of mice on a high-fat diet a bioactive compound (naringen) in grapefruit juice identified as a key agent in weight loss, and another group a glucose-lowering drug. The high-fat-diet mice that received naringin had lower blood glucose levels than the control group, but there was no effect on weight, suggesting that some other ingredient in grapefruit juice is also beneficial.