"grapefruit diet" news and stories

I was surfing around the new and improved AOL Food today, and I came across this A to Z Guide To Diets. It doesn't have every single diet, of course (how could they when there's a new diet book out every week?), but it has the one that you're probably on or are thinking of trying, including The 3 Hour Diet, The Abs Diet, Atkins, Blood Type Diet, Bob Greene, Cabbage Soup, Dr. Phil's Diet, Fat Flush, Fat Smash, Grapefruit Diet, L.A. Weight Loss Diet, NutriSystem, Sonoma, Ultimate New York Diet, Ultrametabolism, Weight Watchers, and The Zone.

The only plan I've tried is The Abs Diet, because it's not only sensible and realistic, it promotes a lot of exercise and not starving yourself or cutting out a ton of foods you like to eat. But I cringe at the word "diet." It just screams "temporary fix," and keeping the weight off and your body healthy is a life-long plan.

Although various incarnations of the grapefruit diet have been around for roughly 75 years, science has never fully backed it up. Aside from ratcheting down your caloric intake, sometimes to around 800 calories a day, the diet claims that grapefruits contain a special "fat burning" enzyme that can be put to work by downing half a grapefruit before each (scant) meal. So far, this magic enzyme hasn't been identified.

The Florida Department of Citrus hopes that $371,521 for a new study can change that. The two-year study, to be conducted at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, was announced at a recent Florida Citrus Commission meeting. While some members of the commission are hopeful that the study will provide them with solid science that can be used for marketing, others fear that the results may debunk a strong urban legend that likely helps grapefruit sales already. Results will be ready in early 2008. The Ledger has more.

This isn't the first time the FCD has attempted to find hard proof that grapefruit can help weight loss. In 2003, The St. Pete Times reported on similar studies funded by the state.