Grapefruit Diet

Now we're headed to the 1920s, as Fletcherizing fizzled out in the early 20th century. The Grapefruit diet has been called multiple names, including the Hollywood diet, the 18-day diet, the Hollywood 18-day diet - and then later (in the 1980s), it became the 10-day diet or 10-pounds-off diet.* Thinness went in and out of popularity but was once again popular in the 1920s (and then never really fell out of favor).

The grapefruit was developed through hybridization by Don Phillipe in Florida in 1823, but it wasn't until the 1920s that pink grapefruit gained popularity as overall grapefruit production increased. Between 1910 and 1930, the number of grapefruit harvested went from 2 million to 220 million!

Two American actresses, Elsie de Wolfe and Ethel Barrymore (related to Drew Barrymore), were noted for their fondness for grapefruit. Barrymore's initial encounter with the fruit occurred at de Wolfe's residence, and she appears to have popularized the Grapefruit diet by requesting it at local eateries. Much like today, the media covered what celebrities consumed, which was probably partially responsible for the popularity of the diet and advertisements for the diet appeared in a pair of 1930s movies. There were claims that Ethel Barrymore ate grapefruit for 18 days straight to keep from gaining weight.

Dr. Elmer McCollum, a chemist and early nutritionist in the U.S., purported that too much acid in the stomach was the cause for many ailments. The cure: citrus fruit! Why? Because it's acidic?! He claimed that citrus fruit turned alkaline in the human body, and newspapers and medical journals jumped on board claiming that acidosis was one of the biggest health concerns in the U.S. There is no evidence the McCollum promoted the Grapefruit diet, but his promotion of citrus fruit probably didn't hurt the diet's popularity or the citrus industry's profits.

Variations of the Grapefruit diet exist, but one source described it as a regimen of consuming fewer than 600 calories a day. The Grapefruit diet appeared as follows:

1/2 grapefruit (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Melba toast (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Raw vegetables (lunch and dinner)

Black coffee

Is the grapefruit really an important component to weight loss here or the lack of overall calories? The little research that exists for low-calorie diets, with an emphasis on grapefruit consumption, shows that the low-calorie component of the diet is most likely responsible for weight loss. On the plus side, there is an improvement in HDL cholesterol with grapefruit consumption on a low calorie diet.

The positives: Weight loss (but who wants to live off of grapefruit and Melba toast?)

The negatives: This diet is very restrictive in most vital nutrients, including carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.

Would I recommend this diet to a client? I would not recommend this version of the diet, as it lacks sufficient calories, macronutrients, most vitamins and minerals. I can't say that all variations of this diet are a hot mess because there is a lack of information available.

In general, grapefruit can be a great addition to your diet, but it can interfere with many medications, so it's best to check with your MD, pharmacist or RD before regularly adding it to your diet.

P.S. Anyone else love Fresca? It is one of my all-time favorite sodas from childhood. What does this have to do with the Grapefruit diet? Nothing. I just like drinking it, and it has a small amount of grapefruit juice in it. :)

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*References

1. Levenstein, Harvey. (1993). Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America. Oxford Unity Press. New York.

2. Levenstein, Harvey. (2012). Fear of Food.: A History of Why we Worry about What We Eat. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London.

3. Silver HJ, Dietrich MS, Niswender KD. (2011). Effects of grapefruit, grapefruit juice and water preloads on energy balance, weight loss, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk in free-living obese adults. Nutr Metab (Lond), 8(1):8. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-8-8. PMID: 21288350; PMCID: PMC3039556.

4. Zarzo, Inma & Soriano, Jose M. (2022). The history of grapefruit diet: Four solved mysteries. Nutricion Clinica y Dietetica Hospitalaria. 42. 87-95. 10.12873/421soriano.