Grapefruit has been a staple among dieters for years, and a new study says that that's not without good reason.

Not only did a steady diet of grapefruit help obese people lose weight, it also protected them from getting diabetes, the BBC reports.

The study was conducted on 100 obese people, with an average weight of 218 pounds. Researchers at the Scripps Institute in San Diego had one group eat half a grapefruit before each meal; a second had a glass of grapefruit juice before each meal; the third, control group had no grapefruit.

After 12 weeks, those who ate grapefruit lost an average of 3.6 pounds, and some lost 10; the grapefruit juice group shed an average of 3.3 pounds; and the control group lost an average of about a half a pound, according to the BBC.

The grapefruit consumers also had lower insulin levels.