Grapefruit Seed Extract

(Citrus Paradisi)

Evidence: High
Possible Benefits: High
Safety: High

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is grapefruit seed extract?

The seeds of citrus paradisi, also known as grapefruit, are often sold as a supplement for their wide variety of health benefits. The seeds can reduce inflammation, boost antioxidant defenses, improve cardiovascular health, and more. This article is about the main benefits of grapefruit seed extract, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.

Possible benefits

All of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. As with other fruit and seed extracts, there is a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get most of the benefits without causing meaningful side effects or tolerance buildup in the body. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.

Major benefits

  • Antioxidant properties – This seed contains a wide variety of flavonoids and other beneficial compounds, many of which have strong antioxidant properties and can help reduce oxidative stress in the body.

Minor benefits

  • Improved brain function – Grapefruit seed extract was shown in multiple studies to support memory, learning, healthy stress responses, dopamine levels, neural mitochondrial function, and more. This fruit and its seed extract can also protect the brain from oxidative stress and free radical damage.
  • Reduced inflammation – Many flavonoids, and polyphenols in grapefruit seeds are proven to reduce inflammation in the body through various mechanisms.
  • Improved immune health – Secondary to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, grapefruit seed extract can improve innate and adaptive immune system health and function. Grapefruit seeds can also reduce the symptoms of various autoimmune conditions.
  • Improved digestion – Grapefruit seed extract can slightly improve gut health, bowel movements, and digestion.
  • Improved cholesterol levels – Grapefruit seeds can slightly improve cholesterol levels by lowering LDL cholesterol and possibly increasing HDL cholesterol. This benefit mainly applies to people with elevated cholesterol. The antioxidants in this seed may also prevent or reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
  • Improved insulin sensitivity – People with insulin resistance may experience a slight improvement.

Possible side effects

The side effects below are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.

  • Allergic reaction – While an allergy to this seed is rare, some people may experience an allergic reaction after ingesting the seed. If you experience allergic symptoms like itching or swelling of the mouth, coughing, sneezing, rash, or other skin reactions because of the grapefruit seed extract, it is probably best to stay away from it.
  • Diarrhea – This unpleasant effect is relatively common with fruits and fruit supplements, especially as one starts consuming them. It is usually nothing to worry about.
  • Toxicity – Many flavonoids and other bioactive compounds in grapefruit seeds have adaptogenic properties and act as mild stressors on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, stressing the body too much can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including mild toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking or eating large quantities of grapefruit seeds could lead to mild chronic toxicity and cause some health problems over time. To prevent chronic toxicity or the buildup of tolerance, staying below 1000 mg of an average grapefruit seed extract or 20 mg of naringin in a day is best unless you have a great reason to consume more.
  • Contamination – If growing or storing conditions are not adequately controlled, grapefruit seeds can be contaminated with bacteria, molds, and other potentially harmful microorganisms. Many growers also use pesticides that can be unsafe. Choose the brand you get fruits and fruit powders from wisely. For fruit powders and supplements, it is often best to use websites like Amazon, where thousands of users have reviewed and rated the products. You are less likely to buy something of lower quality there.

Who should not take grapefruit seed extract?

You should probably avoid grapefruit seed extract if you:

  • are allergic to grapefruits
  • experience a severe adverse reaction after taking the supplement (though a mild adverse reaction is usually not a problem and can even be seen as positive as it is a sign that the adaptogenic molecules in the seed are causing a hormetic response that allows the body to adapt and become more resilient)

Who will benefit the most?

You should consider taking the seed extract or adding it to your diet if you:

  • wish to improve general health
  • have a high budget for supplements and are willing to experiment with a variety of them (assuming you don’t fall into any of the categories that should avoid this supplement, grapefruit seed extract appears safe and is unlikely to do more harm than good for most people)

How much grapefruit seed extract should you take?

Because many flavonoids and other chemicals in the grapefruit seeds are adaptogenic, they act as mild hormetic stressors on the body, which allows your body to adapt and become more resilient to certain kinds of stressors in the long term. A higher dose of these compounds isn’t necessarily better because they may put too much stress on the system.

The sweet-spot dose typically ranges between 200-600 mg of an average grapefruit seed extract. If you purchase an extract standardized for naringin, the sweet spot dose of total naringin is about 4-20 mg.

The higher end of this range usually provides slightly more benefits in the short term. If you plan to take this extract regularly for a longer time (multiple months or years), the lower end is probably a better way to go.

While this supplement could theoretically cause acute toxicity, you’d need to take an extremely high amount that would be way beyond what even the most potent extracts contain.

Like most other plants, it is best to cycle grapefruit seeds and take about two days off weekly to reset your tolerance to the adaptogenic compounds in the seed. That will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

Best time to take grapefruit seed extract

Most bioactive compounds in grapefruit seeds are water-soluble, so you don’t need to take the seed extract with food to absorb them well.

Whether you take the grapefruit seed extract in the morning or the evening does not make much difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.

Where to buy grapefruit seed extract?

In most countries, Amazon is the best option for ordering grapefruit seed extract and other seed powders and supplements. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the Internet.

Some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.

FAQ

As for most other adaptogenic supplements, it is best to cycle grapefruit seed extract and take a break from it for about two days per week to reset your tolerance back to baseline. That will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

Yes. This supplement will not worsen your sleep quality in any way. Whether you take it in the morning or the evening doesn’t matter much if at all.

The supplement shouldn’t go bad if you store it well but it can lose potency over time. Keep the supplement in a cold, dark, and dry place. It should remain just as potent for many months or even years there.

This supplement contains a variety of adaptogenic compounds that act as mild stressors on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, stressing the body too much can be counter-productive and cause mild toxicity over time. High doses can also make you develop tolerance much faster than lower doses, and they may be less effective at improving health in the long term.

While you could safely take or eat higher amounts, there is usually no point in taking more than 1000 mg of an average grapefruit seed extract or 20 mg of naringin. This amount should give you most of the benefits without meaningful side effects.

This supplement contains many bioavailable compounds, and each has a different half-life. However, most of the effects of this extract are cumulative, so they mostly happen in the long term rather than acutely. Therefore, the half-life of the grapefruit seed extract isn’t very relevant in practice.

Grapefruit seeds or seed extracts should not impact your fast in any negative way unless you take large amounts.

References

Most of the information in this guide is based on scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything you read in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.

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We hope this guide has helped you determine if you should add grapefruit seed extract to your supplement stack and how to do it right.

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