Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Grapefruit Seed Extract

Description

Grapefruit seed is prepared in extract form from the seeds, pulp, and white membranes of grapefruits from grapefruit trees (Citrus paradisi). The grapefruit tree, first discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados in the seventeenth century, was brought to Florida in 1823 for commercial cultivation. The plant was probably named grapefruit because its fruits grow in bunches or clusters. Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is used as a broad spectrum, non-toxic, antimicrobial compound. The extract comes in two forms, liquid and powder.

GSE was developed by Dr. Jacob Harich, a physicist who was born in Yugoslavia in 1919 and educated in Germany. His education in nuclear physics was interrupted by Word War II. After witnessing the horror of war as a fighter pilot, Harich decided to devote the rest of his life to improving the human condition. He then expanded his educational pursuits to include medicine,...