Aside from being sweet, juicy, and delicious, science has confirmed that oranges have some amazing health benefits which ancient civilizations knew about, yet we are just beginning to understand.
I would like to start off first by clarifying an often mis-leading fact. Vitamin C is found in oranges containing actual vitamin C and is delivered in a form that is most easy to assimilate. As a natural food.
Oranges do not have this single-chemical nutrient known as ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is a synthetic vitamin C; synthetic meaning made by chemical synthesis, especially to imitate a natural product. Ascorbic acid is usually derived from GMO corn.
Of course, there is much more to oranges than just it’s natural content of vitamin C, since it is the fruit of a complex plant that evolved over thousands of years, and we are still in the process of discovering every nutritional benefit this fruit has to offer!
With that said let’s get back to what’s really packed inside an orange! Let’s break down the health benefits of oranges into three general categories. Each of them confers different health benefits so let’s take a quick look at each one:
- The Juice
- The Peel
- The aroma
THE JUICE
The juice is rich in nutrients that only help every function of your body. Just the juice alone provides vitamin C, Folate, Potassium, and Magnesium which are all valuable in the healing and maintenance processes the body goes through every single day.
Orange juices are not all the same. Look at your labels, and if after drinking orange juice you feel odd switch to non-pasteurized. That usually does the trick.
THE PEEL
Since orange peel can help reduce weight by increasing your metabolism, improve digestion with their anti-inflammatory properties (including aiding with diarrhea, heartburn, and acidity) and treat bad breath by helping fight cavities keeping your breath fresh, the peel seems to be your immune systems champion!
Aside from those surprising benefits, orange peel can also support heart health, prevent allergies and even prevent cancer. It is a wonder that it is not as popular as the orange juice itself. There is more to this mighty peel aside from the above already mentioned here and you are welcome to reach out to me with any questions.
THE AROMA
Sweet orange essential oil comes from Citrus sinensis, derived usually from the rinds of the oranges we customarily eat. It is mostly used in aromatherapy but has been studied for topical application. You definitely do not consume any essential oil orally, including this one.
Still just by breathing the fumes of sweet orange essential oils you can improve anxiety, colds and flu, constipation ,inflammation and stress. And although this essential oil could be applied with a skin regimen for acne it can be misapplied so maybe stay away from that use until researchers have solved that issue.
Amazing what this fruit can do!
