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Grapefruit is one of the most popular and chemically rich citrus fruits. The health benefits of the fruit are confirmed by scientific studies, nutritionists recommend including it in the diet for many diseases. However, not knowing how the body will “react” to citrus in a certain pathology, for example, grapefruit increases or decreases blood pressure, you should consult with your doctor.
Composition and useful properties
The rich chemical composition and a high concentration of many vitamins, macro- and microelements vital for maintaining health, including those rarely found in food and not synthesized by the body on their own, turn grapefruit into a very valuable “supplement” for the diet.
In folk medicine, grapefruit is used to improve well-being with high blood pressure, diabetes, atherosclerosis.
With high blood pressure, the following properties of grapefruit are especially in demand:
- strengthening the walls of blood vessels, reducing their permeability;
- lowering the level of “bad” cholesterol in the blood, removing it from the body, splitting cholesterol “plaques”;
- stimulation of metabolism;
- normalization of blood sugar levels;
- beneficial effect on the digestive and nervous system;
- bile and diuretic effect, “help” in removing excess fluid from the body that provokes swelling;
- improvement of general well-being, strengthening of immunity.
Many substances useful for normalizing blood pressure are found mainly in the white film between grapefruit slices.
Such a complex effect with high blood pressure is due to the presence in grapefruit:
- vitamin A, C, P, PP, D, the whole group B;
- mineral salts (sodium, potassium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, silicon, boron, vanadium, rubidium, cobalt);
- citric and other fruit acids;
- essential oils;
- flavonoids of plant origin;
- volatile;
- pectin.
Grapefruit raises or lowers blood pressure
The ability of grapefruit to lower blood pressure in hypertension has been scientifically proven.
This happens thanks to:
- strengthening the heart muscle and blood vessels;
- normalization of blood composition;
- blood thinning with excessive “viscosity”.
The blood pressure lowering effect is most pronounced when grapefruit is combined with green vegetables and vegetable oils.
That is, the beneficial effect of grapefruit on the body, in fact, is to eliminate the risk factors that, in combination, make chronically high blood pressure almost inevitable. When the walls of blood vessels lose their elasticity, they thicken, their lumen narrows. Cholesterol “plaques” aggravate the problem.
In order to provide organs and systems with blood in the required volume, the heart is forced to “accelerate”, increasing the pressure and intensity of its “pumping”. But at the same time, it “wears out” much faster. Blood through the vessels goes with “interruptions”, which provokes the appearance of clots that can completely clog the lumen.
Grapefruit for high blood pressure is not a panacea, it is only an addition to the medicines prescribed by the doctor
The property of grapefruit to lower blood pressure “works” only with hypertension. Hypotension patients, if they do not systematically abuse citrus and do not “combine” it with certain drugs, can not be afraid of such a result.
Grapefruit recipes for hypertension
In principle, fresh grapefruit can be used to lower blood pressure. The first results will be noticeable if you eat the pulp of one citrus or drink a glass of juice daily for a week.
“Tropical” smoothie
A kind of “three in one” at high pressure: a drink, a dessert and an independent dish. For its preparation you will need:
- freshly squeezed grapefruit and orange juice – a glass each;
- medium-sized bananas – 2-3 pieces.
Preparing a drink from pressure is extremely simple. Bananas, peeled and cut into small pieces, are whipped with juice in a blender until it turns into a homogeneous puree-like mass.
If you serve such a pressure smoothie as a dessert, it is recommended to decorate it with lemon or lime zest, kiwi slices, and other exotic fruits.
Tasty and healthy breakfast
An alternative for those who need to lower their blood pressure, but are tired of eating grapefruit in the morning in a “pure form”. Also suitable for those who on an empty stomach they cause heartburn and those who simply do not like the characteristic bitterness. Required Ingredients:
- large grapefruit – 1 pc.;
- natural honey – 2-3 tablespoons (to taste);
- fresh mint leaves – 8-10 pcs.
How to make a breakfast that helps lower blood pressure:
- Peel the grapefruit, divide into slices, remove the white film, cut the pulp into pieces.
- Finely chop the mint and mix with honey.
- Pour the citrus pulp with the resulting mixture, mix gently.
Instead of mint in this recipe, you can use other herbs, such as lemon balm, basil, rosemary, adjusting the proportion with honey to taste
Fruit salad
Here everyone can create their own recipe for lowering blood pressure on their own. The main ingredient is peeled and diced grapefruit pulp. Other citruses prepared in the same way, and any sour or semi-acid fruits and berries are added to it in the desired proportion. Well suited, for example, pomegranates, currants, cranberries, pineapples, apples, kiwi. For dressing use low-fat sour cream. Also useful for high blood pressure is olive oil (4 tablespoons) mixed with soy sauce, grated ginger root, liquid honey (1 teaspoon each) and the juice of half a lime.
If you include leaf lettuce, avocado and about 300 g of shrimp in the list of ingredients, the dish will replace a full meal
Is grapefruit compatible with drugs
When deciding on the inclusion of grapefruits in the diet, in the presence of any chronic disease, it is necessary to consult with your doctor about the “compatibility” of citrus with the medications you take. It has the ability to influence the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs of certain groups:
- statins;
- beta-blockers;
- “antagonists” of calcium;
- ACE inhibitors;
- means against arrhythmia;
- antihistamines;
- analgesics;
- medicines to treat certain mental disorders;
- medicines to normalize digestion;
- immunosuppressive agents;
- drugs needed by patients with HIV and other retroviruses;
- remedies for erectile dysfunction.
Ideally, about four hours should elapse between taking the medicine and eating citrus.
The effect is explained by the presence of furanocoumarin, naringin, bergamotin and other plant flavonoids in grapefruit. They “block” the work of a number of enzymes necessary for the drugs to enter the bloodstream and begin to act. As a result, the active ingredients of the drugs accumulate in the body, which is fraught with their transformation into toxins. Their “processing” begins only after the splitting of flavonoids, respectively, they do not have a quick desired effect (for example, pressure reduction), the patient’s condition worsens.
Противопоказания
Despite the fact that the health benefits of grapefruit are undeniable, citrus fruits will have to be excluded from the menu if there are contraindications:
- idiosyncrasy;
- hypervitaminosis;
- problems with intestinal patency, frequent constipation;
- increased acidity of gastric juice, chronic gastritis, gastric or duodenal ulcer;
- chronic fatigue syndrome;
- severely damaged or very sensitive tooth enamel, stomatitis, other diseases affecting the oral mucosa;
- Raynaud’s syndrome and some other vascular pathologies;
- any liver problems.
You can minimize the possible harm of grapefruit juice to the oral cavity if you drink it through a straw.
Conclusion
To understand whether grapefruit raises or lowers blood pressure, you need to study its chemical composition. Citrus, in the absence of other contraindications and the need to take drugs incompatible with it, is recommended to be included in the menu for both hypertension and hypotension. The rich chemical composition of grapefruit ensures its complex beneficial effect on the body, which is not limited to the normalization of blood pressure.