Grapefruit is a common winter fruit, rich in vitamins and known for its cooling and heat-clearing properties. Pregnant women are prone to heatiness, making grapefruit especially suitable for them. Let's take a look at the benefits of grapefruit for pregnant women.
Benefits of grapefruit for pregnant women
1. Beauty and skin care
Grapefruit contains vitamin P, which can strengthen the function of skin capillaries and help damaged skin tissue recover as soon as possible. Eating grapefruit regularly can make the skin smooth and fair. Moreover, grapefruit contains very few calories, so it is good for weight loss and perfectly matches the principle of "natural beauty" for women, making it the most suitable fruit for women in autumn.
2. Improves digestion and helps with hangover relief
The Rihua Materia Medica states that pomelo "treats poor appetite and bland taste in pregnant women, removes foul odor from the stomach, aids digestion, removes intestinal gas, detoxifies alcohol, and treats bad breath from drinking." This product is suitable for pregnant women with a bland taste in their mouth, those suffering from bad breath due to alcohol, or those experiencing motion sickness or seasickness; it should be chewed and consumed slowly.
3. Expectorant and antitussive
The outer peel of the pomelo is the commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, Huajuhong. The limonene and pinene it contains, when inhaled, can increase and thin respiratory secretions, facilitating sputum expectoration and providing excellent expectorant and antitussive effects. It is an excellent remedy for chronic cough and asthma in the elderly, as well as asthma due to deficiency and cold.
4. Antibacterial and antiviral
Naringin and hesperidin can inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Salmonella typhi in vitro. Naringin also has inhibitory effects on yeast and fungi, and provides preventive protection against viral infections in mice. Naringin and hesperidin in grapefruit, similar to other flavonoids, possess anti-inflammatory properties. They can promote wound healing and have good adjuvant therapeutic effects on sepsis and other diseases.
5. Lower blood sugar
The potassium in grapefruit makes it an ideal fruit for patients with cerebrovascular and kidney diseases. In particular, the insulin-like components in grapefruit make it an ideal food for diabetic patients, as it can help prevent diabetes and delay complications.
6. Strengthen blood vessels
The fresh fruit is rich in vitamin C, 33 times that of pears and more than 8 times that of apples. It is also rich in vitamin P, which, together, can reduce capillary fragility and prevent microvascular bleeding, making it suitable for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Furthermore, because grapefruit contains the physiologically active substance naringin, it can reduce blood viscosity and decrease the formation of blood clots, thus having a good preventive effect on cerebrovascular diseases such as cerebral thrombosis and stroke.
7. Promotes blood circulation and removes blood stasis
Naringin, like other flavonoids, can alter capillary permeability, inhibit the conversion of ADP to ATP, reduce platelet aggregation, improve blood suspension stability, and accelerate blood flow. Therefore, consuming grapefruit is beneficial for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
8. Anti-cancer
A clinical trial conducted by researchers at a university drug center in the United States showed that grapefruit juice can enhance the efficacy of the anti-rejection drug rapamycin, and that the combined use of rapamycin and grapefruit juice has achieved good results in the treatment of various cancers.
Precautions for pregnant women eating grapefruit
1. Grapefruit should not be eaten in large quantities. Grapefruit is cold in nature, so pregnant women with weak constitutions should not eat too much of it.
2. Pregnant women with high blood pressure should not eat pomelos, especially grapefruit.
3. Pregnant women should not eat grapefruit while taking medication. It is especially dangerous to eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice while taking antihistamines, as this may cause arrhythmia.
4. Pomelos that are too bitter should not be eaten, because bitter pomelos are usually unripe or spoiled.
