Pomelo is pleasant, but people taking medicine should be careful when eating it

Pears, persimmons, grapefruits, pomegranates... Autumn is the season when fruits are everywhere. If dieters want to eat fruits with confidence, grapefruits are the best choice. Its golden skin, fragrant grapefruit fragrance, and crystal clear flesh are so tempting!

So, can grapefruit supplement vitamin C? Can people with high blood sugar eat it? What is the difference between yellow grapefruit and red grapefruit? How to choose? Who should not eat it?

Less than half the energy of a banana

The energy content of grapefruit per 100 grams is about 33-42 kcal, which is less than 1/2 of the energy of banana. The calorie content is lower than other autumn fruits such as kiwi, grape, winter jujube, pomegranate, and persimmon. Eating grapefruit in autumn can help you lose weight without any "abdominal burden".

The Chinese Dietary Guidelines recommend eating 200-350 grams of fruit every day. If you eat grapefruit according to the upper limit of 350 grams (equivalent to 5 petals), the energy content is less than 150 kcal.

The vitamin C content is higher than that of lemon

The vitamin C content of grapefruit is 23 mg per 100 grams. The vitamin C content of red grapefruit and white grapefruit is higher, at 38 mg and 36 mg per 100 grams respectively, which is slightly higher than lemon (22 mg).
However, lemons are too sour to be eaten in large chunks like grapefruits. Most people cut two slices and soak them in water to drink. However, if you eat 350 grams of grapefruit in large chunks, you can get 80.5 mg of vitamin C, which is 80.5% of the daily vitamin C requirement. In comparison, grapefruit is also excellent in terms of vitamin C supplementation.

People with high blood sugar can also eat it with confidence

The glycemic index (GI) of grapefruit is only 25, which is a low GI fruit.
Compared with GI, glycemic load (GL) takes into account the amount of available carbohydrates and the amount eaten, and can better reflect the impact on blood sugar.

After calculation, we know that even if you eat 350 grams of grapefruit, the GL is only about 7.3, which is a low glycemic load. Therefore, grapefruit is really friendly to people with high blood sugar. You don’t have to worry about your blood sugar soaring when you eat grapefruit as a snack, just don’t eat too much.

What is the difference between yellow meat and red meat?

There is little nutritional difference between grapefruits of different colors, except that the total amount and variety of carotenoids in yellow grapefruit are significantly higher than those in red and white grapefruits. Carotenoids include β-carotene, α-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and lycopene. The higher the content, the stronger the antioxidant capacity.

However, yellow pomelo is the most scarce and the most expensive, about 1.8 times the price of white and red pomelo. If you choose yellow pomelo just to get more antioxidants, the cost performance may be worse.

As for the online rumors that white grapefruit can be injected to make it look like red grapefruit, this is impossible because the small grapefruit particles are independent and it is impossible for the color to be evenly distributed to all the small grapefruit particles after one injection.

Remember two things when choosing grapefruit

When choosing a delicious and nutritious grapefruit, remember two things: heavy feel and smooth skin. Choose grapefruits of the same size. The heavier ones have thinner skin and more flesh. Grapefruits with smooth skin are fresh, because once the grapefruit loses water, the skin will become wrinkled. Second, they taste good. If the skin is not smooth and has bumps, it means that the oil glands in the skin are more developed, which means that the fruit has spent a lot of resources on the development of the skin, and the taste of the flesh is likely to be bland.

Can grapefruit peel absorb formaldehyde? Don't count on this claim on the Internet. The porous structure of grapefruit peel can indeed absorb formaldehyde, but even if the house is filled with grapefruit peels, the amount of formaldehyde that can be absorbed is minimal. Ventilation is the most reliable way to remove formaldehyde.

Grapefruit peel can be used for cooking. Choose the white part of the grapefruit peel, slice it, and rub it with salt until the juice flows out and it feels a little sticky. Squeeze out the juice, then pour in boiling water to soak. Wait for the water to cool, squeeze out the water, then stir-fry with onion, ginger, garlic, and millet pepper, and sprinkle with sugar and salt to taste.

Grapefruit affects drug metabolism

It is worth noting that the furanocoumarins in grapefruit can affect the metabolism of many drugs. For example, they can increase the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs such as nifedipine, amlodipine, and lacidipine, which may cause hypotension, dizziness, palpitations, fatigue, and even angina pectoris.

It will also affect the effects of drugs such as statins and antidepressants. If you are taking medication, do not eat grapefruit.

As for other grapefruits, although the furanocoumarin content is not as high as that of grapefruit, they may also have potential effects on various drugs, so it is best not to eat them.

(The author is a director of the Capital Health Nutrition and Gourmet Society and a registered dietitian)