About Grapefruit diet

The grapefruit diet, also known as the Hollywood diet and erroneously as the Mayo Clinic Diet is a short-term fad diet that has existed in the United States since at least the 1930s. Specifics of the diet vary widely, but it usually involves eating half a grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with each meal and significantly reducing caloric intake, often to below 800 calories per day. Based on the claim that grapefruit has a fat-burning enzyme or similar property, it is considered unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

History

Though the grapefruit diet originated in the 1930s, it came to popularity in the 1970s, when it was erroneously propagated through Xeroxlore as "the Mayo Clinic Diet", though the Clinic has no connection to the diet and how the connection started is unclear. The diet significantly limits the amount of fruits and vegetables one eats while encouraging meat intake; the combination of these high-fat, high-cholesterol foods with grapefruit is claimed to burn fat. Although the number of days in the diet varies, it generally involves a set number of days on the diet followed by two "break" days. It was re-popularized in the 1980s and nicknamed the "10-day, 10-pounds-off diet".

A 2004 study funded by The Florida Citrus Department found that participants lost an average of 3-4 pounds over 12 weeks by eating half a grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with each meal and exercising regularly; many participants lost more than 10 pounds. It was hypothesized that the grapefruit reduced insulin levels, encouraging fat loss. However, the study involved a healthy diet with the addition of grapefruit, in contrast to a normal "grapefruit diet".