The grapefruit has made a career as breakfast fruit or juice in various parts of the world. It’s shown to boost and protect your immune system, giving you protective enzymes and dietary fibre, especially when taken before a meal. Although it’s so amazing, it’s not for everyone. Its sour and bitter combination is just too overpowering. Even if you find its taste combination nasty, there are other ways it packs a punch for your skin.
Spoiler: Grapefruit combines high water content with powerful antioxidants so that it can help even out and brighten any complexion, making your skin more plump while reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Grapefruit, the forbidden fruit
The grapefruit was first documented in 1750 by the Reverend Griffith Hughes. He gave it the name “forbidden fruit” because he was searching in the Caribbean, namely Barbados, for the identity of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.
The Jamaicans coined the name grapefruit because they saw the fruit grow in clusters just like grapes.
Grapefruit (Citrus ×paradisi) is a hybrid of a pomelo and a mandarin. It’s a man-made fruit and can be traced back to 1692 when a certain Captain Shaddock brought pomelo seeds from Indonesia to Barbados.
It became a popular fruit in the isles of the West Indies before it was cultivated on the American mainland.
The grapefruit tree looks just like an orange tree. It can reach 6m in height and has desk foliage. The leaves are dark, shiny green, and fragrant. There are several types, but most grow yellow grapefruits (when ripe).
The different types produce fruits with varying sizes, from 10 to 15 cm in diameter. The most commonly available grapefruits have a light yellow fruit flesh. But you’ll also find varieties with pink or red fruit flesh.
Content
As with other citrus fruits, grapefruit is a good source of vitamin C. Apart from vitamin C, it doesn’t provide you with other nutrients in notable amounts except
- A bunch of different organic acids – from citric to tartaric
- Fibre
- Naringin
- Polysaccharides (sugars)
As with all citrus fruits, the rind or skin is fragrant. That’s because it’s covered in tiny glands filled with essential oils. This is also why some recipes require you to add the zest. That’s the grated rind. It’s also the source material to make essential grapefruit (lime, lemon, orange, etc) oil.
What can it do for your skin
Winter is in full swing and with it all the good and the bad. The good is going to ski and enjoy anything walks in the snow. The bad is winter dryness leading to not only dull and lifeless skin but also to lines and wrinkles.
Organic acids
Grapefruit contains a range of fruit acids, mainly citric but also malic, salicylic, and tartaric. You sure have heard of how salicylic acid is a great tool in beating spots. The others are AHAs (alpha-hydroxy acids).
The difference between salicylic acid and the other fruit acids is that as a BHA, (beta hydroxy acid), it can cut through fats and lipids in your skin and goes deeper into your pores.
Both AHAs and BHAs dissolve the bonds, the “glue” that holds together dead skin cells. They’re different options you can choose for chemical exfoliation. Exfoliating is really helpful with dull and textured skin, leaving it smoother and more luminous.
Vitamin C
The vitamin C present in grapefruit means you can tackle several concerns all at once.
Vitamin C is one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds that help combat free radicals your skin may be exposed to when you’re in the sun or out and about. They’re important because they help ward off damage caused by exposure to environmental factors such as sun and pollution.
Secondly, it’s one of the ingredients mentioned whenever people want to even out their skin tone. It works by stopping tyrosinase, an enzyme that’s a key component when your body makes melanin, when too much is produced it results in dark spots. Hence it fades existing areas and prevents new dark spots from forming.
Thirdly, it’s a great ally when you want to get rid of the dreaded cellulite on your body or just maintain your skin bouncy and firm. It means it will make your skin smooth, erasing lines and wrinkles or bumps with cellulite.
That’s because vitamin C is a key component when your body makes collagen. This substance is a type of protein and it helps to keep your skin firm.
Lastly, it also has anti-inflammatory properties. In a number of skin issues, such as sensitised skin or spots and their aftermath, vitamin C helps to reduce inflammation. Good news, especially if you want to avoid the pesky marks left after the spots are gone.
Naringin
Grapefruit has a very special taste combination of sour and bitter. The bitter taste is due to the presence of naringin. It’s a flavonoid mainly found in grapefruit but also in a variety of fruits and herbs such as tomatoes and cocoa.
Your digestive system breaks naringin down into naringenin. Both compounds are antioxidants that also act as anti-inflammatory agents. You want to reduce inflammation since it’s a key contributor to breakouts as well as when your skin gets a reaction.
Polysaccharides
Although not a lot – you can taste that it’s more tart than sweet – grapefruit contains polysaccharides. These are sugars and vital to help keep your skin’s microbiome healthy. That’s because sugars are prebiotics, the food that probiotics feed off.
Probiotics are benign microorganisms, bacteria, yeast, and so on, that live on your skin. The microbiome is the word for the eco system of good microorganisms that live on your skin. It’s what keeps your skin healthy, balanced, and resilient. So, you want to do anything to keep it happy.
You are what you eat
This saying really holds true. Everything you eat gets broken down in your body and then becomes the elements and components of new cells – everywhere in your body.
As a good source of vitamin C, when you consume grapefruit, it boosts your body’s immune system and this means you could help keep the amount of time you spend sick to a minimum. Vitamin C is also great for you if you want to reduce cellulite and firm your skin from the inside out. In combination with antioxidants such as naringin, grapefruit will also keep inflammation low.
If you want to not only use it on the skin but reap double the benefits but can’t stand its bitter-tart taste, here’s a surprising tip to make it more palatable. Instead of dousing it with sugar, sprinkle a pinch of salt. It’s an effective way to neutralise its bitterness.
I leave you with a word of caution: Grapefruit has been shown to meddle with many drugs. In some cases boosting their effectiveness and in some countering it. Always be on the safe side and consult with your physician or pharmacist first.
