Younger women seem to know all of the latest dieting tricks to pare off pounds quicky, whether it’s for an important date or Spring Break. Back when I was younger, I was no exception: faced with my upcoming wedding I jumped on board the Grapefruit Diet for two weeks and watched as ten pounds vanished almost instantly.

It’s tempting, sometimes, to go back to that kind of weight loss approach. Not that I could do it any more, mind you: I’m psychologically accustomed to eating three meals a day. (Those meal replacement shakes don’t work for me, either.)

Turns out, my inability to subsist on grapefruit — or even swallow one single bite of the bitter stuff — may be good for my health according to a new report.

The report, from the Universities of Southern California and Hawaii, published in the British Journal of Cancer, states that eating it can increase the risk of breast cancer by nearly a third. The fruit is believed to boost blood levels of oestrogen, the hormone associated with increased risk of the illness.

The researchers claim that post-menopausal women who eat as little as one quarter of a grapefruit per day (or juice equivalent) could see their chances increase by 30 per cent. Most dieters would have been eating at least six times that amount.

It’s pretty common knowledge these days that eating grapefruit can counteract many medications, including immuno-suppressants and anti-depressants. But until now I wasn’t aware that grapefruit also affects the metabolism of estrogen.

At risk most: those with low estrogen levels, like post-menopausal women or those with naturally low levels. The concern is that the increased estrogen brought on by grapefruit consumption may trigger estrogen-receptive cancer cells, causing them to become active and produce tumors.

Hm. I always did consider that fruit rather nasty.