Know your Local Fruits and their health benefits: Series One – Oranges
There is no gainsaying that life is what one makes of it. Also one of the original attributes of life is necessity of food. Food plays a critical role in health and life maintenance. In a broader dimension, it may be said that the health and life span of a human depend largely on his food and lifestyle.
Having said the forgoing, there is the necessity to take a closer look at the fruits and vegetables around us with a view to identifying their place in our nutritional scheme and contribution to our body and health maintenance.
We shall be looking at this discussion from the point of view of tropical and sub-Sahara Africa, a case of West Africa. We would try to be as detailed as possible taking us through the nutritional content and value of various fruits found in the selected region. We shall do so in number of series that will run through days and possibly weeks. We shall be starting today with Orange, a popular fruit in the citrus family.
Oranges and Its Health Benefits
Orange serves as the main source of the vitamins (mainly vitamin C) and is also rich in dietary fiber and other nutritional contents that provide positive effects to the health and well being of man.
Reading through the 15 health benefits listed below will help you to know the ways by which this fruit can improve your health.
1. Prevents the Formation of Cancer
The major content in this fruit is vitamin C which is very essential to any aspect of life such that it contributes much to reducing the risk of colon cancer.
Vitamin C which plays different roles to improve human health has been made the center of interest in cancer studies and several studies have proven its effects in terminating colorectal cancers.
Oranges also contain phytochemicals such as citrus limonoids and D-limonene which helps to protect the body against cancerous diseases that affect the lungs, skin, breast and other parts.
2. Promotes Healthy Eye
Oranges serve as a rich source of vitamin A; the Retinoids and Carotenoids which perform the functions of improving and maintaining good vision.
These classes of vitamin A help to keep the eye mucous membrane healthy and also prevent age-related sicknesses that can cause blindness or serious eye problems.
3. Regulate Blood Sugar Level
Readers may begin to wonder how oranges that suppose to spike the blood sugar helps to reverse the case.
The fact that oranges contain sugar is not neglected in this case but the sugar in oranges is a monosaccharide natural sugar called fructose which helps to moderate the blood sugar from increasing after eating.
Again, the fibre content in oranges helps to keep the blood sugar level normal after eating and the single sugar, monosaccharide serves as energy in the body.
Don’t be surprised to hear that oranges’ are healthy for diabetic patients but they should not be consumed in excess because it can result in the fast increase in the amount of glucose in the blood.
4. Boosts Immune System
Taking a good amount of fruits and vegetable are known to boost the immune systems and oranges are not exceptional.
Researches have shown that taking one cup of orange juice that is freshly extracted from the fruit supplies the body with 124 grams of vitamin C which helps to boost the immune system.
A good intake of vitamin C helps to boost the processes and the organs of the body that acts to resist certain diseases and toxin that affect the systems.
5. Prevents the Formation Of Kidney Stones
Orange juice helps in the prevention and deformation of kidney stones in the body because of the presence of potassium in it.
A new study was carried out on 8 healthy men and 3 other men diagnosed with hypocitraturia calcium nephrolithiasis and the consumption of orange juice improve the urinary citrate excretion to flush out the stones without exceeding the urinary PH level.
This showed that orange juice is quite effective in flushing out stones that are already formed in the kidney.
6. Energizes the Body
The thiamine contained in orange is a type of vitamin B known as vitamin B 1 which helps in converting carbohydrate into glucose that produces energy in the body.
In this case, one sizable orange can produce 100% thiamine (vitamin B1) recommended daily for the body.
This vitamin functions majorly in the metabolism of carbohydrates to produce energy that supports the muscles and nervous systems.
7. Keeps The Skin healthy
Oranges are rich in beta-carotene which is the antecedent of vitamin A that the body converts beta-carotene into and it helps to keep the skin and the mucous membrane healthy.
It follows a saying “an orange a day helps to keep one looking ever young even at the age of 50” This statement which is applied to most tropical fruits is true for oranges that have higher nutritional content than most fruits.
8. Can Prevents Heart Diseases
The presence of vitamin B6 in orange is to help reduce the level of homocysteine: a non-protein amino acid in the blood which is linked to risk factor heart illnesses when elevated.
When homocysteine is accumulated in the body system, it can cause heart disease; intake of oranges will always normalize the level of this amino acid in the body.
9. Prevents Poor Blood Circulation
Hesperidin is a compound found in oranges that supply flavonoid hesperidin which protects the body from poor circulation of blood and brain-protective effects.
10. Prevents Oxidative Damage
Oranges are a good source of polyphenols that protects cell constituents in the body from oxidative damage through scavenging of free radicals that are prone to affect the cells and tissues.
These polyphenols are among the phytochemicals that help the human body to the highest degree in fighting diseases.
11. Good For Pregnant Women
Orange contains folate which a supplement that always required during pregnancy because of its important role in fetal development.
Folate, in other words, called folic acid, occurs naturally in oranges making the fruit a daily recommendation for pregnant women as it helps to prevent flaws in the baby’s spine and brain.
12. Good for Weight Loss
Including oranges in the daily diet can serve an excellent source for losing more kilograms of your body weight. Fruits with high fiber content do a lot of good on weight loss because they help one to keep full.
They are rich in craving substitutes such as folate, vitamin C and thiamin which helps to increase the metabolism of breaking down molecules to obtain energy which can sustain for some time during workouts or other duties.
13. Increases Libido In Men
Studies proved that some of the food and fruits we eat contribute to improving sex drive, especially in men.
From the study, citrus fruits particularly oranges contains properties that help to enhance sexual desire.
Hesperidin is a phytonutrient found in orange that helps to improve the flow of blood in the sex hormone and reduce the stress that causes a lack of sexual interest.
14. Helps in Proper Digestion
As mentioned earlier in this article, oranges have high fiber content which releases the digestive enzymes that help in the normal digestion of food.
Taking oranges every day especially at night after dinner when the digestive system is less active helps to reduce the risk of indigestion.
15. Stimulate Hair Growth
The presence of folic acid and vitamin C in oranges helps to stimulate hair growth. Also, bioflavonoids are contained in this fruit which helps to circulate blood in the scalp thereby improving the growth of hairs on the head.
Orange juice can be mixed with honey tom make hair conditioners that can excellently improve hair appearance and lessen friction between the hair strands.
Other additional benefits of these fruits include using its peel to treat painful infections on the breast tissue, called Mastitis; helping to strengthen the arteries and maintain elasticity and other benefits that are derived from vitamin C and several nutrients in oranges.
Nutritional Contents
The table below provides the nutrition chart of orange per 100 grams serving of the fruit.
| Nutrient | Values |
| Energy | 47 Kcal |
| Carbohydrates | 11.75 g |
| Calories | 68 |
| Calcium | 40mg |
| Magnesium | 10 mg |
| Manganese | 0.024 mg |
| Potassium | 169 mg |
| Copper | 39 µg |
| Iron | 0.10 mg |
| Zinc | 0.08 mg |
| Vitamin K | 0 µg |
| Vitamin A | 225 IU |
| Vitamin C | 53.2 mg |
| Vitamin E | 0.18 mg |
| Folates | 30 µg |
| Niacin | 0.282 mg |
| Protein | 0.94 g |
| Pantothenic acid | 0.250 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.040 mg |
| Thiamin | 0.100 mg |
| Total Fat | 0.12 g |
| Dietary Fibre | 2.40 g |
| Pyridoxine | 0.060 mg |
| Sodium | 0 mg |
| Carotene-ß | 71 µg |
| Carotene-a | 11 µg |
| Lutein-zeaxanthin | 129 |
| Crypto-xanthin-ß | 116 µg |
Orange is a citric fruit with super nutrients including essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, manganese, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, thiamin, riboflavin, and copper.
Know More About Oranges
Oranges are the fruit of citrus referred to as sweet orange to differentiate them from other citrus oranges such as grape, lemons, and others. They are sometimes called modified berries a widely grown in the tropical areas.
Eating just an orange in a day supplies your body with lots of vitamin C that play different vital roles in the body.
Taking fresh orange juice provides the same benefits as licking the juice directly from the fruit.
It is Safe to Consume Oranges Every Day?
It isn’t bad to eat oranges every day provided that they are taken in moderate quantity because eating it excessively works in a reversed form of weight loss and excess of vitamin C in the body.
Side Effects
Orange is a nice fruit with lots of vitamin C content and a very sweet taste that everyone like taking including the aged people but while consuming orange it is good to bear in mind that excessive intake of oranges might lead to digestion related problems like cramping due to the high fiber content which might lead to diarrhea in some cases.
Eating oranges in an empty stomach can possibly lead to an increase in acid production because it contains citric acid but an inconsiderable amount. In addition to this, fruits with high fiber content such as orange should not be taken early in the morning.
Conclusion
Oranges are super fruit known for its juicy and delicious taste with a range of important nutrients that contributes positively to human health and lifestyles when consumed.
Do keep in touch as we discuss more fruits in subsequent series in coming days and weeks.
