(e) Science News is reporting that feeding Grapefruit Juice to mice with high fat diets resulted in 18 percent less weight gain than the same diet with only water.
The study was conducted at UC Berkeley. This work was funded by the California Grapefruit Growers Cooperative, but the UC Berkeley researchers emphasized that the funders had no control or influence over the study design or research findings.
At the end of the study period, the mice that ate the high-fat diet and drank diluted grapefruit juice not only gained less weight than their control counterparts, they also had a 13 to 17 percent decrease in blood glucose levels and a threefold decrease in insulin levels, which reveals greater sensitivity to insulin. (In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes extra insulin to compensate for increased resistance to the hormone.)
One group of mice was also fed metformin, a glucose-lowering first-line drug of choice for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. But the grapefruit juice lowered blood glucose to the same degree as metformin. That means a natural fruit drink lowered glucose levels as effectively as a prescription drug.
The weight gain reduction of the grapefruit juice was less pronounced with diets lower in fat, but the insulin levels still decreased two fold.
(Score: 1) by takyon on Sunday October 12 2014, @07:09PM
Drugs That Interact With Grapefruit on the Rise [webmd.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday October 12 2014, @07:56PM
anything that inhibits CYP2D6 (a liver enzyme) will potentiate a LOT of drugs (basically everything recreational and a lot of non-recreational ones). Tagamet (cimetadine) and grapefruit juice are some of the commonly encountered enzyme inhibitors.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Sunday October 12 2014, @08:49PM
a nice comment. The general public is unaware how medications come to market, and the workings of biochemistry are only now being elucidated.
When we have a couple of million of genomes in the public domain, we might start to get a hint at the mutations which help and which hinder, and those that just "are" ;-)
Exciting times...
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday October 12 2014, @11:41PM
Is that related to the increased risk for kidney stones?
My sister learned this the hard way... when injured she craves grapefruit juice. When she got her leg mashed she craved it but good. Drinking a quart a day resulted in a kidney stone within a couple weeks.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Monday October 13 2014, @12:00AM
i dont know much about kidney stones, but i dont think so; iirc those are more from not properly hydrating, and for some people, sugary fluids (juices and sodas) don't hydrate them well enough to prevent stones. if there is some link between liver enzyme inhibition and kidney stones, i dont know about it, but its mostly outside of my area.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday October 13 2014, @12:36AM
There are several studies that find about a 40% increased risk with consuming large amounts of grapefruit juice, and I recall that the mechanism is known, but offhand couldn't find that. So just wondering. :)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Sunday October 12 2014, @07:12PM
The front page of berkley.edu has the identical article as escience: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/10/08/grapefruit-juice-stems-weight-gain/ [berkeley.edu]
The actual article is publicly available: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0108408 [plosone.org]
I've only skimmed, however I believe the benefit was high fat diet with diluted grapefruit juice. Not sure of the dilution level. If it is mostly water, I could imagine incorporating this into a juice cocktail to counteract how delicious grapefruit juice is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @07:42PM
Also, high-fat diets saw 3x reduction in insulin levels, low-fat diets still saw a 2x reduction in insulin levels compared to control group drinking water.
If I read it right the dilution level was between 1:1 and 1:3 juice:water - and they took the pulp out.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday October 12 2014, @08:17PM
Does it still work when you dilute your grapefruit juice with vodka?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Monday October 13 2014, @04:55PM
Apply for a grant to study this and let's get you funded!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @08:27PM
Was what has this got to do with systemd?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @08:49PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday October 12 2014, @09:49PM
The study was conducted at UC Berkeley. This work was funded by the California Grapefruit Growers Cooperative, but the UC Berkeley researchers emphasized that the funders had no control or influence over the study design or research findings.
In an ideal world, the researchers shouldn't even have known who'd funded the work.
In an even more ideal world, of course, they wouldn't need funding (and the associated direction as to what to study) from private sources.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday October 12 2014, @10:28PM
There's no man attached to the shoes below the curtain! move on..! Nothing we want you to see.. ;-)
(Score: 1) by bacon on Sunday October 12 2014, @11:59PM
Not disagreeing, but even without funding as a consideration, there is still an imperative to make a discovery once the study has commenced.
Would we even be reading about this study if the outcome was that grapefruit had a negligible effect on weight gain?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 13 2014, @02:34AM
No we would not be reading about it. It would have still been published but, like 99.99% of all published science, the general public wouldn't care enough for anyone to report it.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday October 12 2014, @10:16PM
Monday stock market money tip. Short selling of Actavis, Aurobindo, BMM Pharma, Bluefish, Bristol-Myers Squibb, EQL Pharma, GEA, Glucophage, Hexal, Meda, Mylan, Orifarm, STADA and Sandoz .. ? ;-)
That ordinary fruit has higher potency than a commercial drug is quite something. Perhaps fruit companies will have some market boom? like Apple..? :p
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday October 12 2014, @11:06PM
On mice!
But never mind, I'll start a diet based on crispy bacon and grapefruit juice and let you know how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 12 2014, @11:29PM
That ordinary fruit has higher potency than a commercial drug is quite something. ...
Not surprising, lots of "natural" medicines work very well, for just one example, consider opioids are among the best pain killers.
The cool thing (I think) is that by inhibiting uptake of some very potent drugs, grapefruit juice could allow the drug dosage to be reduced significantly, along with the side effects of the drug. Obviously this requires detailed study and, sadly, it's not exactly in the interest of big pharma to do the research and reduce their sales.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pnkwarhall on Monday October 13 2014, @12:35PM
That ordinary fruit has higher potency than a commercial drug is quite something.
I take for granted that the chemical cocktail derivatives of "ordinary plants" are more complexly potent than man-made drug-chemicals, seeing as they were the product of many thousands of years of development. That's pretty long compared to the decade or two invested in the creation and testing of chemicals by the usual drug company suspects.
I can't help but think if these companies would invest a lot more of their research dollars into investigation of naturally-occurring complex organic compounds, we'd have some much more powerful drug tools than we have now. As opposed to 5 different uses for B0t0x.
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday October 13 2014, @12:45PM
Big pharma will only invest in stuff they can manufacture and profit from. Anything else has to come from government grants (NIH?).
(Score: 1) by pnkwarhall on Monday October 13 2014, @06:07PM
Big pharma will only invest in stuff they can manufacture and profit from.
You forgot **patent**!
It's a pity that the profit-motive seems like such a conflict-of-interests for the advancement of any medical technology... Specifically, it's the whole "cure-vs-maintenance" context (w/ diabetes-treatment being the easiest example) that really makes me distrust the modern medical field (I'm not just referring to medication either).
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Sunday October 12 2014, @11:29PM
What about the grapefruit juice aviable in the store? Is it the same type used in this study?
(Score: 3, Funny) by MrGuy on Monday October 13 2014, @12:04AM
I'm proud to be looking at the results of the first study ever where this is true.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday October 13 2014, @11:36AM
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!) [youtube.com] - to the tune of "Zoot Suit Riot", if you've never heard it.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin