What they used to say about one apple a day keeping the doctor away can now also be applied to red grapefruit. Not only is it recommended in diets and in the case of a vitamin deficiency but, as it turns out, grapefruit is also good for the bones.

A new study focusing precisely on the beneficial effects of the grapefruit has returned the most optimistic results, in that it boosts bone density; thus, it should be included in our everyday diet.

The research was performed at the Texas A&M University in the US, and involved feeding red grapefruit to rats with thinning bones. Throughout the duration of the study, it became clear that the rats began to show decreasing rates at which cell bones died, a fact that was eventually explained by an increase in the level of disease-fighting antioxidants.

The findings of the study come to bring new hope to the estimated 75 million patients suffering from osteoporosis in Europe, the USA and Japan. Women are four times more exposed to the condition than men are, especially those of them who drink or smoke heavily, take steroids, or have a family history of the disease. At the same time, they are also those for whom this new research could do wonders in preventing the condition from settling in.

While poor eating habits, the above mentioned addictions and a low intake of calcium are known to increase the risk of osteoporosis, daily intake of dairy products is equally documented to decrease it. However, thanks to this new study, but granted the conclusions it came to are further investigated, people who either don’t like dairy or are lactose intolerant (allergic to lactose) could now eat plenty of grapefruit to have the same positive results in the fight for the prevention of osteoporosis.