I just found out some horrible news about a study involving vitamin C packed grapefruit. Eating this refreshing citrus fruit could raise your risk of developing breast cancer, particularly if you are a post-menopausal woman.
How is that possible? I thought all fruits and veggies were considered healthy. Here's the deal. Oestrogen is the hormone associated with a higher risk of breast cancer. An enzyme in your body called Cytochrome P450 3A4 (or CYP3A4) is involved in metabolizing oestrogen. 
Grapefruit may inhibit the metabolizing enzyme, which in turn makes oestrogen levels in your body rise, which could lead to breast cancer.
The study included 50,000 post-menopausal women and found that women who ate just a quarter of grapefruit a day increased their risk for breast cancer by up to 30%. Researchers are not suggesting you stop eating grapefruit, since more research is needed. These results definitely get us thinking about how our diets can affect our health on a molecular level.
Since these women were over 50, and we know that other lifestyle factors including drinking alcohol, being overweight, and eating red meat have also been linked to breast cancer, I'm going to let this whole grapefruit study pass by and wait for more research. What do you all think?
Marciano
Darphin
Ed Hardy
Im not so much of a grapefruit person but the idea of fruit increasing your risk to cancer is just crazy. I think there are more things to monitor other than whether or not they actually ate grapefruit, like physical activity, diet, lifestyle. etc.
1This is weirdly excellent news? I always thought grapefruit (and the juice) to be insane-o nasty unbearable.
Seriously, gross. Anyone who can eat it gets weird one-up points and GROSS points because... wow. It tastes like a nasty... well... vagina. Don't ask how I know. College was experimental and fantastical, like some 80s horror gone comedically badass.
but it IS surprising to hear of fruit doing this. Although it's so interesting to hear what enzymes and things your body reacts to to make it completely implode in on itself. the human body never ceases to amaze me O_O
2What really REALLY surprises me is that it's not like an inordinate amount of grapefruit. A quarter grapefruit per day? 30% increase?! That's HUGE. I'd definitely wait to see more research done before cutting back on a favorite fruit, but weird, weird news.
3I don't mean to diminish the importance of this report, but TONS of things (something new everyday, it seems) apparently are linked to cancer. Tofu, soy sauce, chocolate, etc. One day researchers tell you to eat more tofu, soy sauce, and chocolate (ok maybe not all together) to PREVENT cancer and the next they'll say it increases your risk by X%. In other news, can YumSugar direct me to a place where I can get this grapefruit spoon pictured? It looks amazing!
4I love grapefruit!!
this is sad
5I don't believe in such studies. As a poster mentioned before, they always contradict each other. I need far more than one study founded by who knows to change my eating habits.
6i totally agree with calimie,... i mean seriously...
7next is "breathing air causes cancer"
lifes to short to stop eating grapefruit
I don't buy this one yet.
8Say what???? This is such a hard concept to wrap my brain around. I'm not a huge grapefruit fan but my husb is and eats it daily... so Fit, is the risk the same for guys?
9just to make things a little clearer .... oestrogen is estrogen. So if you're familiar with all the discussion surrounding estrogen and hormone replacement therapy, then this is not new. Nor is it as clear cut as the study is implicating. I am not comfortable with the statement, "oestrogen is the hormone associated with a higher risk of breast cancer." It overgeneralizes the issue and makes it sound bad. Estrogen is made by the body and necessary to properly function (men and women).
10I just read the study (in the British Journal of Cancer Research, for those that are interested), and I have to say it seems pretty solid statistically even though more research is needed.
One thing we should all be aware of though is the effect of grapefruit on many of the drugs and pharmaceuticals that we may use. CYP3A4 isn't just involved in metabolizing estrogen, it is also involved in the metabolism of other hormones (like progesterone, testoterone), and drugs like Singulair, Prilosec, and many anti-depressants. When you take pharmaceuticals, always check to see if something like grapefruits or grapefruit juice will interfere with what you're taking.
Suzanne, to answer your question- the study mentioned above did not analyze men's risk, so it's hard to say. Seeing as that women have a persistently higher amount of estrogen in their bodies when they are of reproductive age, and men have a persistently lower amount of estrogen, a brief rise in estrogen serum levels probably wouldn't have the same effect on men. But it's hard to say without research...
11ditorres, you're right that "estrogen is the hormone associated with a higher risk of breast cancer" isn't correct.
However, a persistently increased level of estrogen has been associated with breast cancer. That has been well established. Breast cancer cases have dropped since we stopped giving out hormone replacement therapy to post-menopausal women like it's candy.
12I sometimes takes these kind of news seriously especially if it's related with your body or mind, but I just don't like how statistics change overtime. One day it's 8 glasses of milk; the next day it's 6 glasses of milk. I mean we will never how much is needed or how how much is NOT needed to stay healty, illness-free and cancer-free.
But Fit please do keep us posted on this one if there is more research to be disclosed. I personally don't like grapefruit but I know my mother and aunts do, and some of them are over 50 and are in menopause right now.
13I would wait until more research is out before I decide not to eat grapefruit. Those women already had issues so those problems might have added to the higher levels. Keep us posted Fit!
14Actually, women with "issues" were excluded from the study.
15Be careful about making conclusions based on somebody's summary of a news story that's itself is a summary of a scientific article.
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