Hypoglycemic and Hypolipidemic Effects of Grapefruit Juice in Diabetic Rats

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the hypoglycemic effect and the hypolipidemic changes following the ingestion of an extract of grapefruit juice, which was fed intra-esophageally, to healthy and alloxan-induced diabetic male rats. Treatment of diabetic animals with the grapefruit juice extract resulted in a significant decrease in the serum glucose and cholesterol level. The percentages of decrease are 67.5% for serum glucose level and 30.8% for serum cholestsrol level, after ingestion of 0.5 ml twice aday for 12 days. And the percentages of decrease are 70.6% for serum glucose level and 38.4% for serum cholestsrol level, after ingestion of 1ml twice aday for 12 days. This study suggest that grapefruit juice extract play a good rule in controlling the levels of glucose and cholesterol in experimental animals and can be applied clinically on patients with diabetes and lower cholesterol level. Although the aqueous extract of grapefruit juice (citrus paradisi) has strong hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic properties in experimental animals.