Can grapefruit make you beautiful?

Sophie Morris examines whether grapefruit really has the power to make you lose weight and look and feel amazing...

I always thought it verging on the bizarre that we had special bowls and spoons for eating grapefruit with when I was growing up. There were only two of each; it wasn’t an entire grapefruit-themed dinner service.

The bowls had grooves to grip the fruit; the spoons were like teaspoons only thinner, finishing almost in a point.

But we didn’t have dedicated cutlery and crockery for oranges, or apples, or for pork chops for that matter. What was so special about the grapefruit?

The grapefruit diet

For one, it was a health food. Nay, much more than that: it was the elixir of skinniness – the foundation stone of every dieter’s day during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

Half a grapefruit for breakfast was a simple enough proposal, until you tried to grapple with the eye-stinging juice and awkwardly shaped segments, which is the point at which you needed the special equipment. Apparently only a pineapple is more difficult to eat.

Grapefruit juice was also quite popular on breakfast tables and particularly hotel buffets. It was a step up from orange juice, if you could take the tartness at that time in the morning. A half grapefruit even made quite a chic starter in the days of Abigail’s Party.

Grapefruit sales are falling

But our love affair with the grapefruit – a citrus hybrid created in Barbados in the 18th century – has waned. Sales of the fruit have been slumping steadily in recent years, and last year fell by 3.6% in the UK.

One report, from the Citrus Growers’ Association of South Africa, has put this down to the bitter taste of white grapefruits compared to their more expensive pink cousins. Where once we were happy to sprinkle sugar liberally over sharp grapefruits, this seems far too unhealthy a treat in the 21st century.

So the grapefruit lobby put their heads together to think of how they could rebrand their zesty charge. And they’ve come up with exactly the same reasons we loved it before – the health benefits.

Amazing results

The South African growers asked 65 British women to take their Grapefruit Challenge – eating one grapefruit a day for two weeks. The results are remarkable:

70.8% “felt more comfortable with their body and noticed a change in overall appearance”.

58.5% lost weight.

81.6% said their skin improved.

72.3% said the condition of their hair improved.

81.6% “did not get hungry as quickly as usual after eating grapefruit”.

87.7% “ate more healthily overall while on the South African Grapefruit Challenge”.

89.2% “felt more alert during the day”.

And the clincher, as far as the sales are concerned: the percentage who said they will dedicate themselves to eating grapefruits from now on, which was a very healthy 75.4%.

My experience of the challenge

So, I thought, what the hell? What have I got to lose by eating a grapefruit a day for a few weeks? Precisely nothing. Yet there’s weight loss, fabulous hair, improved concentration and higher energy levels up for grabs. May as well give it a whirl.

Have I lost weight? Well, no, not exactly. But then I did accompany the grapefruits, over the two-week period, with a pizza, a few BBQs and several servings of cake.

Was I less hungry than usual after eating the grapefruit? I’m not sure this claim makes sense. I was certainly less hungry than I would have been had I eaten nothing, but that’s generally the case after eating. I wasn’t less hungry than I would have been after eating a breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Did my skin and hair improve in condition? No. Yet it is possible that the women chosen for the survey were adding grapefruit to a diet otherwise low in fresh fruit and veg, which mine is not.

Grapefruits taste good

I’m not writing this to slam grapefruits. I love grapefruits – the sweet and the tart varieties, for breakfast, a snack, in salads, as juice – and I wish the South African growers all the best in improving sales.

But anyone who believes that eating grapefruits is a silver bullet to beauty no doubt also belongs to the camp that reckons £100 face creams will make them look ten years younger, and, in time, that pigs might fly.

Grapefruits can make you beautiful…but only as part of a calorie-controlled diet…

No single food, as much as we harp on about superfoods, can make you look and feel wonderful, just by tacking it onto your existing diet. Adding something as tasty and nutrient-packed as a grapefruit to your diet is a good thing, but only part of the package.

The final problem: I don’t have those special grapefruit-eating implements anymore. Which meant that preparing and eating mine was a sticky business. It would have been much easier to reach for an apple, or a biscuit.

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