Grapefruit Substance
Found To Be Effective In Obesity Prevention
Published On : July 24, 2009
A recent study showed that a flavonoid substance found in citrus fruit
including the grapefruit has an extraordinary weight loss effect. This
substance known as Naringenin tends to burn fat instead of storing it.
Naringenin has a dramatic power, instead of following strict diets all one
needs to do to prevent weight gain or even to lose weight is to take a
bite of grapefruit.
Apart from helping weigh loss in obese people, naringenin has also been
observed to balance insulin and glucose levels in people with diabetes,
say researchers. This substance is particularly found in grapefruit and is
the reason for its bitter taste. Weight loss experts have long believed
that eating grapefruit may reduce weight, but there was no way to testify
this because it involved far higher doses of naringenin than would be
accessible by consuming grapefruit. It may have to be concentrated into
supplements in order to have such an effect.
At the University of Western Ontario, the Robarts Research Institute’s
team carried out a test on mice. These mice were divided into two groups.
One of the groups was given liberal doses of naringenin but the other was
not. The mice were fed a rich diet similar to western food, so that their
“metabological syndrome” could be speeded up - this was believed to be a
major reason for development of type 2 diabetes in humans.
Results from the test showed that the first group which does not take
naringenin behaved as expected, i.e., their cholesterol level rose and
their bodies became insulin resistant. Also, they grew obese and developed
symptoms of diabetes. The second group, though, were fed naringenin and so
they continued to exhibit normalcy. Naringenin was found to offset any
rise in cholesterol levels and the fat from the western food was burnt up
instead of being stored.
Professor Murray Huff who is a lead researcher in this test confirmed that
the obesity in the second group mice is completely prevented by naringenin.
He also said that one thing unique about this study was that the
naringenin effects were independent of caloric intake. All the mice were
fed equal amount of food and there was no suppression of food habits in
the mice. This means that all the mice had the same amount of caloric
intake. Also the test proved wrong a common notion that the level of
obesity depends on the level of food intake, i.e, the conventional
strategy to reduce food intake in order to reduce weight. The actual
remedy to reduce weight is to take in liberal doses of such substances as
naringenin.
Professor Murray Huff believes that naringenin is the future solution to
correcting many metabolic disturbances in the human body and to reduce the
insulin resistance of the body. The researchers plan to develop this
substance into a drug that can be launched in the market to help people to
ward off obesity and to fight diabetes. |
