Eating two grapefruits a day for two weeks appears to significantly cut gum bleeding for people who have gum disease, new research from Germany shows.

The researchers from Friedrich Schiller University said the grapefruit increases blood levels of vitamin C, which is known to promote wound healing and cut damage by unstable free radical molecules.

The study of 58 people with chronic gum disease, published in the British Dental Journal, showed that eating grapefruit had a positive effect on both smokers and non-smokers, the BBC reported. Smoking is known to increase the risk of gum disease.

At the start of the two-week study, virtually all those taking part had low levels of vitamin C in their blood plasma.

On average, smokers' vitamin C level was 29 percent lower than that for non-smokers.

Eating two grapefruits a day raised vitamin C levels for all everyone.

In smokers, the level almost doubled, but because they started from a lower baseline, their average vitamin C level was still lower than that recorded in the non-smokers.

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