Vitamins and Minerals

Grapefruit is a source of vitamin A, delivering 318.57 IUor 6.4 percent of the DVper half. Vitamin A is necessary for healthy vision and for the maintenance of teeth and skeletal and soft tissue. The National Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists a half of a grapefruit as providing 348 mgor 3.5 of the DVof vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, needed by the body to metabolize proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The Worlds Healthiest Foods states that grapefruit is also a good source of folate, or vitamin B9crucial for brain function and for production of genetic material such as DNA and RNA as well as potassium, essential to heart function and smooth muscle contraction.