Grapefruit Seed Extract

January 14, 2006

Megan...

When you are disinfecting fruits and veggies, do you dilute grapefruit seed extract?

Diane M

January 15, 2006

Hi Diane: Yes, I put in around 15 drops of the grapefruit seed extract in a sink of clean water. In the summer months I add more, just to be on the safe side. I hope this helps, MeganTeddyberen wrote: Megan... When you are disinfecting fruits and veggies, do you dilute grapefruit seed extract? Diane M

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January 21, 2006

GSE is not a preservative

Paula .......... in Michigan

I used to have super powers but my therapist took them away

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience using GSE as a preservative in

lotions/creams?

Thanks,

tammy

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July 28, 2006

Grapefruit Seed Extract Caldecott, Dip. Cl.H., RH(AHG)

Source: http://medherb.com/eletter/GSE-Caldecott.pdf

Medi cal Herbalism 2005:14(3);1

The ubiquitous and wide spread usage of grapefruit seed ex tract (GSE) within the health food industry, including its use by supposedly knowledgeable practitioners, is an issue of serious concern for me as a herbalist, researcher and clinician. GSE in various forms is used by hundreds of thousands of consumers all over the world, all of whom praise the virtues of this “natural” antibiotic. In 1999 a study authored by Sakamoto, Sato, Maitani, and Yamada details an analysis of a commercially available GSE and compared this to an ethanol extract of grape fruit seeds (Citrus paradisi). The researchers report that two chemicals found in GSE and not in the ethanol extract were methylphydroxybenzoate and triclosan, two commonly used preservative compounds (Sakamoto). This study was followed up in 1999 by von Woedtke, Schluter, Pflegel, Lindequist and Julich, who analyzed the antimicrobial effi cacy of six commercially available GSEs and one self-made extract from the seed and juiceless pulp of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi). The researchers found that five of the commercially available extracts had significant antimicrobial activities, all of which contained the preservative benzethonium chloride. Three of these same extracts were also found to contain the preservatives triclosan and methylparabene. The researchers found that only one of the commercial GSEs tested had no preserving agent, but that this extract as well as the self-made extract had no antimicrobial activity. The researchers concluded that the antimicrobial activity being attributed to GSE is “...merely due to the synthetic preservative agents contained within”(von Woedtke).

While on the one hand the marketing of GSE could be nothing more than a kind of charlatanism, there are additional concerns about the longterm safety of ingesting the aforementioned preservatives. I am quite sure that many of the people currently using GSE, who espouse the value of natural alternatives over commonly used synthetic drugs and spend their hard earned money to buy “all-natural” products, would be shocked to learn the mechanism of GSE’s biological activity.

Benzethonium chloride is commonly used as a disinfectant in cosmetic products. In Switzerland benzethonium chloride is classified as ... a disinfectant categorized as a class 2 poison because of its teratogenicity and caustic effects(kantonslabor-bs.ch). The amount found in some GSE products is upwards of 8% (Takeoka), considerably more than many cosmetic prod ucts. The Environmen -tal Defense Fund describes benzethonium chloride as a “suspected endocrine toxicant” that lacks...data required for safety assessment” (score card.org). According to the National Institute For Occupational Health and Safety the internal ingestion of benzethonium chloride could cause “...diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, collapse, convulsions (and) coma” (cdc.gov). Some sources suggest that benzethonium chloride is a by-product produced from grape fruit flavonoids by ammoniation, but researchers at the USDA regard this as “unlikely” (Takeoka). Regardless of its origin, benzethonium chloride is clearly stated to be a potentially harmful compound, and is not approved for internal use in the United States.

Triclosan is structurally related to a number of bisphenyl polychlorinated and bisphenyl chlorophenol compounds that have come under increasing scrutiny for their health-damaging effects.

Triclosan is listed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a “pesticide” (epa.gov). It is widely used in the cosmetic indus ry, especially in antibiotic soaps, and has been fingered as a factor for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Braoudaki). Researchers are finding it in wastewater, in the tissues of fish, and even in human breast milk (Adolfsson-Erici).

While triclosan is approved for use in topical and oral applications, it is not approved for internal use in the United States.

GSE is marketed as an all natural and perfectly safe health food product, when it is neither. Various Citrus species have been used as a food and medicine in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.

Although being familiar with the many benefits of itrus, neither Chinese nor Ayurvedic medicine has ever advocated the use of grape fruit seed or any other Citrus seed in acute infectious disease: this alone should provide some clue as to its effects or lack thereof. Caldecott ob tained his diploma in Clinical Herbal medicine at the Coastal Mountain College in Vancouver, Canada, and his Ayurvedic education in India at the Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam. He is the former director of clinical herbal studies at Wild Rose College in Calgary, Canada, and served as a senior practitioner and clinical supervisor at Wild Rose Clinic. He is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild and serves on the Guild’s ad. Vol. 14 No. 3 Medical Herbalism Page 2 missions committee. His upcoming textbook on Ayurvedic medicine will be published by Elsevier (UK) later this year.

References

Adolfsson-Erici M, Pettersson M, Parkkonen J, Sturve J. 2002.

Triclosan, a com monly used bactericide found in hu man milk and in the aquatic environment in Sweden.

Chemosphere. 2002 Mar;46(9-10):1485-9.

Braoudaki M, Hilton AC. 2004. Adaptive resistance to biocides in Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli O157 and cross-resistance to antimicrobial agents. J Clin Microbiol.

Jan;42(1):73-8.

[cdc.gov 04-07-05]

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng0387.html

[epa.gov 04-07-05] http://www.epa.gov/opppmsd1/foia/reviews/054901.htm

[kantonslabor-bs 01-27-05]

http://www.kantonslabor-bs.ch/e_infos_berichte.cfm?Labor.Command=detail & Labor.Jahr=2004 & Labor.ID=80

[score card.org 04-07-05] http://www.score card.org/chemicalprofiles/summary.tcl?edf_substance_id=121-54-0

Sakamoto S, Sato K, Maitani T, Yamada T. 1996. Analysis of components in natural food additive “grapefruit seed extract” by HPLC and LC/MS. Eisei Shikenjo Hokoku.

1996;(114):38-42.

Takeoka GR, Dao LT, Wong RY, Lundin RE, Mahoney NE. 2001. Identification of Benzethonium Chloride in Commercial Grape fruit Seed Ex tracts J. Agric. Food Chem. 2001, 49, 3316-3320 von Woedtke T, Schluter B, Pflegel P, Lindequist U, Julich WD.

1999. Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grape fruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained. Pharmazie. 1999 Jun;54(6):452-6.