Health Benefits of Oranges for Natural Well-being

Oranges are the world’s most popular fruit, widely cultivated in many tropical regions in the world. The orange belongs to the citrus family and is renowned for its high concentrations of Vitamin C. Today, there are so many varieties and breeds of this juicy and fleshy fruit.

The health benefits of oranges have been recognized for a long time now since they were first cultivated in Asia. From the famous sailors who suffered from scurvy 250 years ago, people discovered that the deficiency of vitamin C in the body causes gum disease. And this insufficiency could easily be corrected by adding citrus fruits, especially oranges, to our diets. Read on to find out the valuable health benefits of oranges.

When preparing orange juice, make sure you don’t throw away the peels. Why? Almost all of the anti-cholesterol agents in oranges are found in the peels. These anti-cholesterol compounds help fight off and transport the bad cholesterol in our bodies to the liver to be eliminated before it turns into plaque that blocks heart arteries. In addition, sypherine, an alkaloid found in oranges reduces the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver in our bodies. You can simply blend oranges together with the peels when juicing oranges or simply integrate the peels, shredded, into your salad.

Oranges are highly rich in the mineral potassium that is extremely potent for a healthy heart. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and also pump out excess sodium in body cells. Why sodium? Excess sodium in the body is very perilous; in fact, high levels of sodium are the major underlying cause of hypertension and other inflammatory conditions. One medium sized orange contains 250mg of potassium. Even better, an 8 oz glass of orange juice contains 474mg.

Being an excellent source of Vitamin C, oranges strengthen your body’s natural defense system, keeping you protected from an array of health problems like ear infections, scurvy, asthma, bronchitis, breast cancer and arthrosclerosis. Many people that regularly consume oranges have been known to rarely suffer from colds and the flu. How? Since oranges are loaded with Vitamin C, they help increase the body’s immunity against cold-causing bacteria thereby helping prevent colds and general ENT infections.

An orange a day can significantly cut down the chances of calcium oxalate stones forming in the kidneys. Regular intake of orange juice can cut down the risks of kidney stones by increasing the excretion of citric acid through urine. By doing so, orange juice not only helps in normalizing acidity in the body but also helps facilitate the elimination of citric acid by increasing urine pH.

Adding an orange a day to your daily diet can drastically reduce the odds of suffering from oral, lung, stomach, liver and breast cancer by 50%.What’s the secret? Oranges are loaded with powerful anti-oxidants and cancer-inhibitors like terpenes, carotenoids and flavonoids. These natural ingredients deactivate oxygen free radicals within the body. The notorious free radicals steal oxygen from healthy cells and cause changes in DNA which result in development of cancerous cells. Besides that, many studies have proven that vitamin C in oranges can significantly cut down the risks of lung cancer in many smokers.

It is a common myth that persons suffering from arthritis should simply keep away from high acidic foods like oranges, but this is wrong. Although excessively consuming oranges can give you arthritis in the long run, many studies have proven that adding a substantial amount of oranges to your diet can stave off rheumatoid arthritis. The versatile vitamin C in oranges helps heal inflammations in joints and tendons. Additionally, it forms the protein collagen, which is responsible for binding cells together and ensuring healthy tendons, ligaments and joints.

Orange peels have widely been used for beauty skin care purposes. The highly valuable vitamin C in them helps to build collagen. The Vitamin C in them also provides a natural sunscreen that deflects UV rays away from healthy skin cells.

Additionally, vitamin C in oranges helps combat the oxygen-free radicals that damage skin cells, thereby preventing aging through wrinkles and sagging skin. Flavonoids in oranges not only help in replenishing skin cells but also help in inhibiting growth of cancerous cells by retaining their energy requirements needed for multiplication.

An important thing to note about oranges is that consuming too many oranges per day can lead to accumulation of vitamin C in the body. Very high amounts of vitamin C can lead to liver and kidney damage. Further, oranges are citrus fruits that contain a lot of citric acid. If consumed excessively, you may suffer from acidosis aka high levels of acidity in the body.

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