Does Grapefruit Juice Burn Belly Fat?

Grapefruit

In an effort to help speed up fat loss, many people look for quick tips and tricks that they can easily add to their daily routine. One such tactic is to start drinking grapefruit juice. While grapefruit juice may have certain health properties, however, it's unlikely to lead to a direct increase in burning belly fat.

The Background

The idea that grapefruit may be a fat-burning super food stems from the 1930s, notes Jennifer Koslo, nutritionist at Precision Nutrition. The grapefruit diet made a reappearance in the mainstream in the 1970s with claims that you could lose 10 pounds in 10 days. According to Koslo, backers of the grapefruit diet and using grapefruits or grapefruit juice to lose weight in general claim that the fruit has powerful metabolic properties that help to ignite fat loss.

The Studies

A study published in the "Journal of Medicinal Food" in 2006 found that, when compared with a placebo, subjects consuming fresh grapefruit, grapefruit juice, or a grapefruit extract capsule before each meal lost significantly more weight in a 12-week period than those taking a placebo. Why this result occurred was unclear to researchers. Dietitian Juliette Kellow thinks it could be due to compounds contained in grapefruit that reduce the levels of the hormone insulin, which in turn can promote weight loss.

Metabolic Myth

According to the University of Illinois at Chicago, diets that focus on grapefruit aid weight loss not because they speed up your metabolism, but because the fruits themselves are low in calories. Therefore, replacing a calorie-dense snack with a grapefruit or glass of grapefruit juice may mean you eat fewer calories and lose more weight. Drinking grapefruit juice before a meal may also cause you to consume fewer calories at that meal because it fills you up, says a 2011 study published in "Nutrition and Metabolism."

The Real Thing

If you're looking to use grapefruit juice as a way to help control your caloric intake and fill you up before meals, pick grapefruit juice that has no added sugars or sweeteners. An even better option may be to opt for real grapefruit. Fresh fruit has a lot more fiber than juice, meaning it digests more slowly and may increase satiety even more.