Health Benefits of Orange || Kino Malty Ke Lajawab Faide
We all know the proverb "an apple a day," but what about an orange?
Oranges are low in calories and full of nutrients, they promote clear, healthy, skin and can help to lower our risk for many diseases as part of an overall healthy and varied diet.
Orange trees are the most commonly cultivated fruit trees in the world. Oranges are a popular fruit because of their natural sweetness, wide variety of types and diversity of uses, from juices and marmalades to face masks and candied orange slices.
An orange has over 170 different phytochemicals and more than 60 flavonoids. Many of these have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and strong antioxidant effects.6
Benefits
The nutrients in oranges offer a range of health benefits.Blood pressure
Maintaining a low sodium intake is essential to lowering blood pressure, however increasing potassium intake may be just as important because of its vasodilation effects.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), fewer than 2 percent of US adults meet the daily 4700 mg recommendation.3
Also of note, a high potassium intake is associated with a 20 percent decreased risk of dying from all causes.3
Cancer
According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, consuming bananas, oranges and orange juice in the first two years of life may reduce the risk of developing childhood leukemia. (resource no longer available at www.bastyrcenter.org)
As an excellent source of the strong antioxidant vitamin C, oranges can also help combat the formation of free radicals known to cause cancer.
While an adequate vitamin C intake is necessary and very beneficial as an antioxidant, the amount necessary to consume for therapeutic purposes for cancer is more than we can consume.1
One study has concluded that vitamin C from oranges could one day be harnessed to impair colorectal cancer cells, but 300-oranges worth of vitamin C would be needed.
High fiber intakes from fruits and vegetables are associated with a lowered risk of colorectal cancer.
However, in 2015, a study linked grapefruit and orange juice with a higher risk of skin cancer. Researchers found that people who consumed high amounts of whole grapefruit or orange juice were over a third more likely to develop melanoma, compared with those who consumed low amounts.
Heart health
The fiber, potassium, vitamin C and choline content in oranges all support heart health.
An increase in potassium intake along with a decrease in sodium intake is the most important dietary change that a person can make to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, according to Dr. Mark Houston, an associate clinical professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School and director of the Hypertension Institute at St. Thomas Hospital in Tennessee.3
In one study, those who consumed 4069 mg of potassium per day had a 49 percent lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease