"Quentin Grady" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:This post not CC'd by email On 9 Feb 2004 12:54:43 -0800 said:Some interesting slight of hand here:
scrippsclinic.comArticle Fulltext.cfmOpen ↗
Quoted message said:
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Grapefruit Diet: Fact, Not Fiction
Scripps Clinic Research Verifies Link between Grapefruit and Weight Loss
SAN DIEGO, CA - January 21, 2004 - The grapefruit diet is not a myth.
ROTFL
Of course it is not a myth. It exists in women's magazines along with eating only bread every
other day.
Quoted message said:That's what a new study by the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic
confirmed. Researchers there found that the simple act of adding grapefruit and grapefruit juice
to one's diet can result in weight loss.
The 12-week pilot study, led by Dr. Ken Fujioka, monitored weight and metabolic factors, such as
insulin secretion, of the 100 men and women who participated in the Scripps Clinic "Grapefruit
Diet" study. On average, participants who ate half a grapefruit with each meal lost
3.6 pounds, while those who drank a serving of grapefruit juice three times a day lost 3.3
pounds. However, many patients in the study lost more than 10 pounds.
"For years people have talked about the grapefruit diet, and some even swear by it, but now, we
have data that grapefruit helps weight loss," said Dr. Fujioka, principal researcher at the
Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic. "Our study participants maintained
their daily eating habits and slightly enhanced their exercise routine; the only dietary change
was the intake of Florida grapefruit and grapefruit juice."
Notice they didn't have a control group. They didn't do a cross over etc, etc.
Quoted message said:"Our study participants maintained their daily eating habits
So they ate their the same amounts of foods PLUS the grapefruit!? Or did they eat the same foods
with grapefruit ie eat the same volume of food with grapefruit displacing some of their usual
foods. Imagine for a moment a diet in which one had to eat raspberries without sugar and cream or
a vegetable like cucumber with EVERY meal. Chance are high one would lose weight. Berries and
cucumber are low in calories.
Quoted message said:and slightly enhanced their exercise routine;
Now isn't this strange. Haven't we been there before just recently with the high carb diet that
beat the SAD control diet. According to the seven researchers, there wasn't supposed to be a
significant difference in calories between the intervention diet and the control diet ... but
there was and that was the significant factor.
Notice in this experiment there was NO CONTROL ARM and ALL the participants increased their
exercise routine and ALL the participants lost weight.
Quoted message said:the only dietary change was the intake of Florida grapefruit and grapefruit juice."
Quoted message said:Additionally, the research indicates a physiological link between grapefruit and insulin, as it
relates to weight management.
Now isn't this an interesting statement. What exactly does it mean? Remember there was no control
arm to the experiment. The 100 men and women increased their exercise "slightly" Exercise is one
way to lower insulin resistance.
Quoted message said:The researchers speculate that the chemical properties of grapefruit reduce insulin levels and
encourage weight loss.
Speculate seems more appropriate before the experiment than after.
Surely if the experiment is all that it is cracked up to be then a statement such as "this pilot
study supports the hypothesis that regular grapefruit consumption lower insulin levels" would give
the folks who paid for the research better value for money.
Quoted message said:The importance of this link lies with the hormone's weight management function. While not its
primary function, insulin assists with the regulation of fat metabolism. Therefore, the smaller
the insulin spike after a meal, the more efficiently the body processes food for use as energy
and the less it's stored as fat in the body.
Quoted message said:Grapefruit may possess unique chemical properties that reduce insulin levels which promotes
weight loss.
It might just be a good source of citric acid which could be more cheaply obtained from other
sources. Of course grapefruit does possess high quantities of the bioflavonoid naringin. It would
have been no big deal to run a control arm using low naringin citrus. Of course since the same
folks who are sponsoring the grapefruit study might well also be selling oranges and lemons you
can see why they might not want to do that.
Quoted message said:Obesity continues to plague the American public and the health system. According to the National
Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of U.S. adults are considered overweight or obese.
Overweight or obese people stand a greater likelihood of developing life-altering and/or life-
threatening illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, sleep apnea, arthritis, liver problems, and many others.
BLAH BLAH BLAH. When short of an experiment result or two juice up the report on the pilot study.
Hey it is win win. The sponsors gains some juice for promoting their product. The researchers gets
invited back to do more research. I mean who could accept the guilt of not curing American obesity
when they had the answer. <yeah, right>
My guess is grapefruit sales will not change obesity figures in the USA one iota.
Quoted message said:"Our study shows grapefruit can play a vital role in overall health and wellness, and in battling
America's ever-growing obesity epidemic," stated Dr. Fujioka. "Whether it's the properties of
grapefruit or its ability to satiate appetites,
Now here the story unfolds. Mandarins have a high satiety index. Grapefruit a probably similar.
Dr. Fujioka who did the research isn't sure whether "its ability to satiate appetites" Ask
yourself what that implies. If the research can't dismiss that option then it means the
participants may well have changed the quantity of foods they were eating. The "magic" may well be
"if you eat grapefruit with every meal you eat less"
Quoted message said:grapefruit appeared to help with weight loss and decreased insulin levels leading to better
health. It's good the "Grapefruit Diet" never lost its popularity among the public."
[snip]
Does all this mean I am for or against the grapefruit diet?
No.
I'd just like to know what can and what can't be reliably believed in.
Personally I'm delighted vested interests sponsor the research. No one else is likely to.
Hopefully there will be more of it with better controls and more definite conclusions. (I only
wish the tamarillo growers of NZ had the financial clout to afford research.) We need to know what
is and isn't so.
Best wishes,
--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ / New Zealand, >#,#< [ / \ /\ "... and the blind dog was leading."
homepages.paradise.net.nzquentinOpen ↗
Hi Quentin and TC:
Keep in mind that this was a news release. The following article does not hide the promotional
character of the research. It also answers a couple of the questions raised by you and TC:
1 $150,000. 2 Quote: "They plan to enroll 100 people in the study and include a control group who
will take fake grapefruit pills. The participants won't change their diet in any other way."
By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published March 4, 2003
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Citrus Department is paying $150,000 to find out whether one of the
oldest fad diets in America, the Grapefruit Diet, actually works.
The contract for the study went to researchers in California -- Florida's rival in citrus sales.
The researchers will give overweight people grapefruits, grapefruit pills and grapefruit juice to
see if it makes them lose weight, even if they continue to chow down on bacon and eggs and
cheeseburgers.
If grapefruit is proven to be a flab fighter, citrus officials say, it might help boost
sales. Florida produces 80 percent of the world's grapefruit, but sales have been down the
past three years.
Older people have been the biggest grapefruit fans, and promoters are trying to position grapefruit
juice as a health drink for young mothers. One marketing plan shows that the Citrus Department went
to beauty magazines and promoted grapefruit juice as a way to fight bloating "so you look and feel
great in your little black dress."
For bridal magazines, the Citrus Department promoted grapefruit juice as "the hottest trend in
entertaining" and recommended it as part of a "pre-wedding beauty regime."
As for the Grapefruit Diet, it's been around since the 1930s. It had one incarnation as the
Hollywood Diet. Dieters are supposed to eat a lot of grapefruit, a little protein and not much else.
"Every single time there's been a promotion of grapefruit as a weight loss product, there's been an
increase in grapefruit sales," said Dr. Joseph Ahrens, director of research for Florida's Department
of Citrus. "We cannot make any claim unless it's based on a scientific study."
The Department of Citrus implies on its Web site that grapefruit is a diet aid. It features the
"Heart Healthy Florida Grapefruit Diet," recommended by television fitness diva Denise Austin.
"We do promote a diet, but we never say that grapefruit causes weight loss," Ahrens said. "We've
always couched it in those terms -- that you can enjoy grapefruit as part of a heart-healthy diet."
The diet is a regular low-calorie eating plan that features lots of fruits and vegetables, including
grapefruit. One suggested dinner: shrimp scampi sauteed in Florida grapefruit juice.
The Web site says that "a prestigious East Coast University has released the results of their study
incorporating the new heart Healthy Florida Grapefruit Diet."
That study, done for the Citrus Department by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, wasn't
particularly valuable in proving whether grapefruit works as a weight-loss aid, said Ahrens. There
was no control group of people who didn't eat any grapefruit, he said. The study participants went
on a low-calorie diet and ate grapefruit, so it wasn't clear whether they lost weight because of the
low-calorie diet or because of the grapefruit.
In 1975, an administrative law judge ruled that the makers of the "Grapefruit Pill Diet" misled
consumers by saying grapefruit caused weight loss, when there's no scientific study to prove it.
"Right now, grapefruit is associated with weight loss," Ahrens said, "but that's not as powerful as
saying grapefruit causes weight loss. Our aim is to nail it down."
In December, the Citrus Department sought researchers who would study "the effect of grapefruit
products on 'bloating,' and if initial weight loss, if any, is due in part or whole as a
diuretic/bloat reliever."
The study -- and the entire Citrus Department -- are paid for by a tax on every box of citrus sold
in Florida.
Researchers at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego were awarded the state contract.
"They plan to enroll 100 people in the study and include a control group who will take fake
grapefruit pills. The participants won't change their diet in any other way."
"We'll find out of there really is some chemical that's doing something metabolically," said Judith
Sheard, manager of the Scripps study.
One Web site devoted to dissecting various fad diets, dietreviews.com, posts a warning: "There is no
one food that has magical properties to cause fat to melt off. If there were, we would have known
about it before now!"
The Grapefruit Diet
There are many versions of the Grapefruit Diet, which began in the 1930s as the Hollywood Diet. This
diet claims that grapefruit contains a special fat-burning enzyme, activated when you eat half a
grapefruit for each meal, along with small amounts of other food.
* * * Does grapefruit have a special fat-burning enzyme?
No. There is no scientific basis to this claim. Grapefruit is a good food, but so are other healthy
foods like vegetables and other fruits.
* * * Does the diet work?
It works because people cut their calories. If you consume fewer calories than your body uses, you
will lose weight.
Source: Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders,
www.webmd.com
Regards:
MikeV
