Does The Grapefruit Diet Work?

Will the "grapefruit diet" help you lose weight? Contrary to what its promoters say, this particular diet won’t burn fat. This is actually an old gimmick which made pink grapefruit popular in Britain in the early '70s.

Because many people were fooled into thinking that they could become ...Will the "grapefruit diet" help you lose weight? Contrary to what its promoters say, this particular diet won’t burn fat. This is actually an old gimmick which made pink grapefruit popular in Britain in the early '70s.

Because many people were fooled into thinking that they could become slim by eating this citrus fruit, one manufacturer even developed grapefruit tablets that he sold for a profit.

However, the British Advertising Standards Authority said that the same manufacturer couldn't produce any medical or scientific evidence that his tablets worked. What about the diet's other ingredients?

Kelp is falsely promoted as a reducing aid. One ad praises kelp as a “rejuvenator” rich in vitamins and minerals that will supposedly melt fat.

In reality, there are hundreds of varieties of kelp or seaweed. Most kelp tablets are made from the bladder wrack or laminaria, according to Arnold Bender in “Health or Hoax?”

With regard to nutrients, 25 grams (about an ounce) of kelp contain only 3/4 grams of protein and 3/4 grams of fat together with 80 milligrams of phosphate, 1.75 grams of potassium and as much as one gram of sodium. This is enough to raise your blood pressure to dangerous levels.

"Statements have been made in health food literature to the effect that kelp contains vitamins A, B, D, and E. Even if this were true, the amounts provided by a tablet or so would not be of any significance," Bender said.

What about kelp’s alleged ability to melt fat? One "secret slim bath" that uses kelp powder mixed with boiling water will certainly make you sweat a lot. This will help your body lose water, not fat. This makes kelp as useless as steam baths, saunas, and sweat suits, said Kurt Butler and Dr. Lynne Rayner of the University of Hawaii in “The Best Medicine.”

Kelp salesmen claim that this substance has iodine, a mineral needed by the thyroid gland to secrete a special hormone called thyroxin which influences body growth. While lack of thyroxin leads to goiter, it can easily be obtained from fish and other sea foods. Insufficient thyroxin does slow down the metabolic rate but increased amounts of iodine cannot speed up the normal rate. Thus, the iodine content of kelp cannot make you slim.

Taking kelp may also be dangerous because it has harmful substances like arsenic. Traces of this poison are found in the urine of people who regularly take kelp tablets. Considering that this seaweed has 100 times more arsenic than other foods, kelp tablets may be fatal rather than a "rejuvenator."

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