According to a recent report by the UK's Daily Mail, a new French study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that regularly drinking grapefruit juice leads to healthier blood vessels and can prevent heart disease. Drinking 340 ml of grapefruit juice daily is sufficient to improve blood circulation.
Grapefruit and Rock Sugar Juice
Scientists have already discovered that grapefruits are rich in flavanones, natural chemicals beneficial to health. In the new study, researchers from France's National Institute for Agricultural Research recruited 48 healthy women aged 50 to 65 as participants. This age group is considered a high-risk period for heart disease. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: one group drank 340 ml of flavanone-rich grapefruit juice daily, while the other group consumed a drink that looked identical but contained no flavanones. The results of the 6-month trial showed that the participants who regularly consumed flavanone-rich grapefruit juice showed significant improvements in their vascular health. In contrast, the participants who drank the flavanone-free beverage showed little to no improvement in their vascular health.
The researchers stated that the new study's findings indicate that for healthy middle-aged and postmenopausal women, regularly drinking grapefruit juice can significantly reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis. This effect is closely related to the flavanone compounds in grapefruit. However, the researchers also cautioned that because grapefruit can interfere with the effectiveness of heart medications, patients who already have heart disease should be cautious when drinking grapefruit juice. A single glass of grapefruit juice can cause a significant increase in the blood concentration of cholesterol-lowering or blood pressure-lowering drugs, leading to greater drug side effects.