The Benefits of Orange Juice For health are numerous: it is moisturizing, provides few calories, is rich in fiber, vitamin C, potassium, iron and calcium, a great source of antioxidants and others that we explain below.
Among the fruits, oranges are some of the most widespread in the world, since their sweet to sour taste is very attractive to the palate of humans.
Being a fruit, its consumption is long recommended in a healthy diet.
Foods of vegetable origin are highly promoted, and especially oranges with their contribution of vitamins and minerals has always been recommended to all types of population; Men or women, children or elderly and of any cultural or economic condition.
8 Healthy Drinking Properties of Orange Juice
1- It is moisturizing
For starters, orange juice can be a much more attractive alternative to help keep us hydrated over the long and demanding days we face each day.
A large part of the population is not very attractive to drink water, which is why this type of juice becomes a much more delicious alternative to ingest water and with the added value some very healthy nutrients.
2- It is a low calorie food
Much of the internet searches are like the following" Low calorie diets ,"Lose weight,""low-calorie food,"which demonstrates people's eagerness to find concrete help to lose weight and improve their self-esteem.
However, we forget that we have very simple alternatives to include in our daily diet and that absolutely meet the requirements of a balanced calorie meal plan and without falling extremes that are dangerous to health.
When you drink a glass of juice or orange juice of 200 milliliters you will not be consuming more than 100 calories, which is why it is a very good alternative of snack or collation, although of course I do not recommend that you spend all day drinking it without ingesting nothing else.
3- Rich in fiber
This will be effective especially if the juice does not pass through a filter that traps the pulp, since this can be consumed without any problem and give us some of its healthy properties among which we can highlight:
- Its ability to provide some satiety that partially inhibits appetite
- Help regulate a correct intestinal transit by preventing or decreasing the possibility of suffering from constipation.
- Their ability to"trap"certain compounds harmful to health, preventing them from being absorbed by our digestive system and bring us some problem. Personally I do not like to lose the pulp and I eat it next to the juice of the orange.
4- Vitamin C intake
This Water soluble vitamin Is very popular, is usually related to flu states and even sell it in pharmaceutical tablets with different flavors and colors that are very attractive especially for children.
Its main functions are; Act as an antioxidant, defending against free radical damage, participate in cell repair and wound healing processes. In a glass of orange juice the vitamin C intake is about 100 milligrams.
Notwithstanding the above, it is only a popular myth that can prevent the cold or the flu, although if it could partially alleviate some of its symptoms.
5- Rich in potassium
In general fruits are very good sources of potassium In natural form, and oranges are no exception.
Potassium is important for a number of things, among which we will highlight its role in conducting voltage impulses of nerve signals and especially the property it has to help relax the walls of blood vessels.
This helps to reduce blood pressure, which is key for people suffering from hypertension. In a glass of orange juice we can be entering approximately 300 milligrams of potassium, amount in fact nothing of negligible.
6- Calcium intake
While traditionally only dairy products have been highlighted as good sources of calcium , Also in foods of plant origin we can obtain this mineral, in various qualities, and with the benefits of preferring the consumption of fruits, vegetables and various vegetables.
As potassium does, this mineral helps to lower blood pressure values, reducing the pressure exerted by blood flow on the walls of arteries, capillaries or veins.
How much calcium in a glass of orange juice? Approximately 80 to 100 milligrams. It is not too much but everything helps to take care of our health.
7- Antioxidant effect of their carotenoids
These Nutritional compounds Present in the juice of oranges are of great fame.
It is currently postulated that they greatly reduce cell oxidation, thereby delaying aging and preventing or delaying the onset of many chronic, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases (eg diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension or heart failure among others).
Undoubtedly this is another point in favor of the consumption of oranges, especially when its juice is taken accompanying the foods every day or at least frequently what would be for example 3-4 times to the week, to really optimize its benefits in the middle and long term.
8- Best benefit of Iron of vegetable origin
The best sources of iron Are undoubtedly foods of animal origin (meat or fish).
Although it is also true that foods of plant origin such as oranges also contribute this mineral (called in this case non-heinic iron), which comes in smaller quantities and is much more difficult to absorb and be used by our body.
However, I now give you the infallible key to improve this limitation, and it is simply always to accompany the consumption of vegetables And cereals with the consumption of a glass of orange juice, which optimizes its absorption, assimilation and utilization.
Production and varieties of oranges
The largest orange producers in the world are Brazil, Mexico and the United States, where although these products are very sensitive to frost (low temperatures), it is estimated that more than 70 thousand tons of oranges are marketed year after year in Its different varieties that we review next:
Persian Orange
This variety in the first instance was bitter and was introduced in Italy, being now widely cultivated in southern Europe. Then the sweet variety from India was introduced and replaced by its best bitter taste.
This is the one that the navigators of the time of the great conquests took to America to prevent the scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency disease) that terribly decimated the sailors.
Navel or Navel Orange
It is said that he was born of an"accident"in the orange orchard of a monastery in Brazil. It was named because of the fact that at the base of the fruit develops a kind of small new orange tree, small and atrophied with an appearance somewhat similar to a navel (with enough imagination).
Orange Valenciana
It is one of the most used to obtain its juice in countries like Spain, because it contains a large proportion of juice, which is sometimes slightly acidic and with an external tint somewhat pale or pale. Its origin does not refer to the city of Valencia, despite the name assigned to it.
Salustian orange
In fact, it is a variety born of a mutation of the orange navel, probably due to environmental conditions of temperature and humidity, this time yes in the Valencian community.
We can distinguish it by having a more flat than oval shape, with a thinner shell than normal and medium size. One point in favor of this variety, and in relation to this article, is its large amount of juice.
Blood Orange
It certainly has this name for its burgundy juice. In addition, externally presents / displays reddish lines. This variety is used enough to make jams very attractive for sale in the markets.
Orange Cadenza
It is of wide tradition, being original of the zone of Cordova in Spain. It is distinguished by its large size (although tends to be somewhat flat) and a very sweet juice that makes it quite desirable.
Conservation and ripening of oranges
After being harvested they do not mature nor improve their flavor and aroma, so they must be preserved under the conditions and in the time indicated in which they preserve their freshly harvested characteristics.
In addition the effect of certain storage conditions is reflected in changes in the content of compounds as Acetaldehyde Y ethanol Of the juice.
All"Orange Juices"??? Are they really orange?
Not categorically. Because the industry usually commercializes many products that in their packaging says"Orange Juice", in some of them are really fancy drinks with identical tannins to oranges or mixtures of different types of juices. It is a big problem in the nutritional labeling of many of our countries.
Undoubtedly the best advice is to buy your own natural oranges in the market you have available or, better still, directly to the farmers so you can enjoy with confidence a refreshing and genuine Orange Juice.
References
- Coggins C et al, The influence of potassium citrate on Valencia orange trees and fruit, American Society for Horticultural Science Vol. 76
- Butelli Eugenio, Retrotransposons Control Fruit-Speci fi c, Cold-Dependent Accumulation of Anthocyanins in Blood Oranges, 2012 American Society of Plant Biologists.
- Meier GE et al., Content of acetaldehyde and ethanol in oranges and mandarins during post harvest, 2004, Argentina.
- Schvab, Maria del C. et al, Parameters of quality of entrerrianas oranges, 2013.
- Molina E, Nutrition, fertilization and utilization of orange juice, Agronomic Information, issue 40.
- Licciardello, C., Russo, M.P., Vale, G., and Recupero-Reforiato, G, Identi fi cation of differentially expressed genes in the fl esh of blood and common oranges. Tree Genet. Genomes 4: 315-33 2008.