Recent studies by Nigerian and Indian researchers have demonstrated the many therapeutic uses of grapefruit. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes. 

BOTANICALLY called Citrus paradisi, grapefruit is an important member of Citrus genus from family Rutaceae. It has been used as a folk medicine in many countries as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent, and preservative. 

Several studies have also shown that grapefruit could be used for cancer prevention, cellular regeneration, lowering cholesterol, cleansing, detoxification, heart health maintenance, Lupus nephritis, rheumatoid arthritis and weight loss. 

 A recent study by Nigerian researchers from the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Lagos State University College of Medicine, Ikeja, led by A. A. Adeneye has found that the seed extract of Citrus paradisi is effective in the treatment of blood deficiency. 

The study published in Biomedical Research is titled “Haematopoetic effect of methanol seed extract of Citrus paradisi Macfad (grape fruit) in Wistar rats.”

The study reads: “Anaemia remains one of the major global health problems affecting more than 30 per cent of world’s population, with higher prevalence among children and adults of low socio-economic class. In developing countries, most common forms of anaemia are nutritional, pregnancy-related, secondary to acute febrile illness or parasitic infestation. 

“Hereditary haemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia, which are associated with recurrent haemolysis are also important causes of childhood anaemia. A few cases are drug-related particularly with the use of drugs such as sulphonamides, dapsone and methyl dopa. Other rare causes of anaemia include connective tissue disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, polyarthritis nodosa, Wegener’s granulomatosis, progressive systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), etc.

 “Despite availability of array of orthodox treatments for anaemia, there is still a heavy dependence on herbal alternatives for its treatment, particularly, the rural dwellers and urban residents of low socio-economic class. While a good number of locally used herbal remedies have been scientifically evaluated and validated but a large number of these remedies remain scientifically unevaluated. One of this is the dried seeds of Citrus paradisi, which has ancestral use in the local management of diabetes, obesity, blood deficiency and as immune booster.

“The present study was undertaken to evaluate the blood forming effects of (100 per cent methanol seed extract) of Citrus paradisi in adult Wistar rats for 30 days as a way of evaluating its traditional use in the treatment of blood deficiencies. Acute oral toxicity study was also conducted using limit dose test of the Up and Down Procedure statistical program (AOT425PgmStat, Version 1.0) at a dose of 2000 mg/kg body weight/oral route. 

“Results of the present study showed that chronic administration of methanol seed extract of Citrus paradisi to treated rats resulted in significant, dose related elevations in the haematological parameters investigated except the neutrophil and monocyte differentials. Literature has shown that oral ingestion of medicinal compounds or drugs can alter the normal range of haematological parameters.

“These alterations could either be positive or negative. In this study, most of the effects recorded for the extract were positive except for its suppressive effects on the neutrophil and monocyte differentials. This suggests that the extract may be selectively toxic to these leucocyte lineages. This postulation, however, requires validation.”

Another new research at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, United States, found that mice fed a high-fat diet gained 18 percent less weight when they drank clarified, no-pulp grapefruit juice compared with a control group of mice that drank water. 

The new study published last week in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE found that juice-drinking mice also showed improved levels of glucose, insulin and a type of fat called triacylglycerol compared with their water-drinking counterparts.

The authors of the UC Berkeley study randomly divided mice into six groups, including a control group that drank only water. Those drinking grapefruit juice got a mixture diluted with water at different concentrations, and sweetened slightly with saccharin to counteract grapefruit’s bitterness. The researchers also added glucose and artificial sweeteners to the control group’s water so that it would match the calorie and saccharin content of the grapefruit juice.