Click here to make this site your homepage. VMS Story Search E-mail this article to a friend. Some Valley grapefruit strains may be more effective against cancer and heart disease than other strains of grapefruit.
White grapefruit has no lycopene.
Lycopene is a compound known as a nutraceutical, a substance in red-colored foods that helps in preventing diseases, according to the Texas Medical Center. Officials are trying to determine why the compound is found so high in Rio Red grapefruits, which were developed in the Valley. 83 for a question and answer session about current research on the health benefits of citrus. The session was part of the South Texas Citrus and Vegetable Tour. Free radicals are solitary oxygen molecules that need to bind with another oxygen molecule to escape the body.