How Does Grapefruit Help Kidney Health?

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Helpful to keep you hydrated

The kidneys are responsible to remove wastes and turn them into urine. Many wastes are dissolved in the urine. And if you have dehydration, there will be too much waste and too little liquid in your urine. And this high concentration makes crystals to form more easily in the urinary tract.

These crystals can become bigger in size by attracting other wastes in the urine, causing a condition called kidney stone, unless they go away with urine when you pee. Bigger crystals can be large enough to block the flow of urine from the kidney to the bladder. This blockage can hurt the kidney!

Keeping hydrated by drinking adequate water every day is often successful in washing these crystals out and preventing kidney stone from forming! In other words, hydration can reduce the risk of kidney stones.

Grapefruit is a hydrating fruit. Even it is made up of 91 percent water. This high water content is also full of essential electrolytes. It can be one of your healthy snacks to keep you hydrated.

Good for your blood pressure and heart

The essential nutrient in grapefruits such as vitamin C, lycopene, choline, and fiber are also great to help heart health. And having healthy heart is very important to your kidneys. Heart and kidneys work closely together. Therefore they can affect each other.

One study found that eating grapefruit could help lower triglycerides. This is particularly beneficial for people with atherosclerosis wishing to decrease their high lipid levels (especially triglycerides).

Getting adequate dietary potassium is important to help prevent high blood pressure, reduce the risk of stroke, and also associated with reduction in the formation of crystals in the urine. And grapefruit is good source for potassium, too.

Good for your blood sugar

High blood sugar can be another serious threat (after high blood pressure) for your kidney health. Although ripened grapefruit is sweet in taste, it’s safe for diabetics. It has least effect on your blood sugar. It has GI (glycemix index) of 25, according to the Harvard Medical School.

What it has is natural sugar and therefore there should be nothing to worry, particularly true if you eat it in moderation! Even research suggests that eating half of this fruit before a meal may also help improve insulin sensitivity.