Grapefruit can be an excellent food for the skin. Vitamin C is present in the fruit. And in the pulp, the white part inside the skin, there are bioflavonoids that protect against oxidative damage, which is occurring all the time, because when we detoxify with our liver, we produce free radicals, when we use muscles for activity, we produce free radicals. So we’re producing free radicals all the time. So it’s important to have a diet that helps support our ability to deal with free radical damage. And grapefruit is a good food for that.
However, a caution with grapefruit is that it affects some of our metabolic enzymes, especially in the liver, that break down different foods, and can slow those down. So, there are dozens of commonly used drugs whose metabolism is slowed down if you use grapefruit. Usually your doctor will warn you if you’re on such a drug, but it’s important to look up, because that could cause the drug levels to elevate because you don’t break the drug down as rapidly as you want, and that could cause some trouble. those are especially drugs that are broken down by the enzyme P450-3A4. So be sure to check if you’re taking any kind of medications and you want to eat grapefruit regularly.
