Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to produce enough of the hormone insulin to properly regulate blood-sugar levels. Naringenin helps to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. It also helps sufferers maintain a healthy weight, which is a vital part of diabetes treatment.

Following a meal the blood is flushed with sugars, causing the liver to create fatty acids, or lipids, for long-term storage. Weight gain puts diabetics at risk of health problems and reduces the effectiveness of insulin. The scientists found that naringenin makes the liver burn fat instead of storing it.

They said its effect mimics the action of Fenofibrate and Rosiglitazone, two lipid-lowering drugs which are used to help control Type-2 diabetes. The study’s author Yaakov Nahmias, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, hailed naringenin as a ‘remarkable’ treatment for diabetes.

"Chemicals like naringenin were long sought after by the pharmaceutical industry, but their development was plagued by safety concerns. This is a step forward but we shouldn’t get carried away that eating large amounts of grapefruit will be a magic bullet – it won’t,’ Nahmias is reported to have said.

Pic: Nick Cowie