Who doesn’t love a cup of orange juice in the morning? While you may enjoy this tasty beverage because it pairs well with your favorite breakfast, surprisingly, drinking orange juice on a regular basis offers you a surprising number of health benefits.
However, it should be noted that although orange juice is considered one of the healthiest beverages, to reap the numerous benefits associated with the drink, you should avoid drinking canned, frozen or concentrated orange juices. Due to the processing involved with these varieties, many of the beneficial properties are lost and more than likely, chemicals have been added to replace the nutritional values lost during processing.
Make sure that you choose an organic orange juice when possible to get all benefits that you can!
So what are the benefits of drinking orange juice on a regular basis?
Radiant Skin
Orange juice is full of antioxidants, such as vitamin A. Not only is this vitamin beneficial due to its connection to improving eye health but it is also necessary for skin re-growth and healing wounds. It helps to form glycoproteins, which help cells bind together to create tissues.
Lacking vitamin A can lead to a dull complexion. If you’d like to improve skin texture and prevent wrinkles, grab a glass of OJ.
Increase Circulation
Another benefit of orange juice lies within its folate content. Folate or B-9 is essential for growth and development. Folic acid is necessary to maintain healthy blood circulation. How? It lowers the levels of homocysteine in the blood by converting it to other substances. Without folic acid, you would be at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, or blood clots. Be sure to drink a glass of orange juice in the morning, as it contains 74.4 micrograms of this essential vitamin.
Excellent Source of Vitamin C
Whenever you find yourself catching a cold, one of the most common suggestions people give is to take some vitamin C. However, the benefits of vitamin C go way beyond its ability to ward off a cold. Not only does vitamin C help fight off free radicals, it can also help prevent prenatal diseases. Furthermore, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it is also effective in preventing aging and wrinkles.
Contains Cancer-Preventing Properties
Because it is full of antioxidants, orange juice can aid in cancer prevention. Antioxidants are beneficial because they prevent cells from mutating into cancerous cells by neutralizing free radicals. Some of the antioxidants contained within orange juice not only include vitamin C but also the antioxidant hesperidin. This antioxidant has been connected with inhibiting growth with certain cancer cells.
Reduces Inflammation
What you consume can play a vital role in experiencing inflammation throughout your body. Citrus fruits are considered to be anti-inflammatory so consuming orange juice daily can be a key to finding some relief from certain inflammatory-causing diseases, such as arthritis.
Furthermore, diets high in sugar and fat can result in insulin resistance, thought to be one of the underlying causes of type 2 diabetes. However, studies have show that through the reduction of inflammation, orange juice can inhibit insulin resistance.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Not only does hesperidin fight cancer cells, but it is also known to promote blood flow and affects the functioning of small blood vessels. This can have a positive effect blood pressure, which is why research has connected this powerful antioxidant to play an important role in preventing and treating hypertension.
Prevention of Kidney Stones
If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you have an idea of how painful they can be. They occur when certain chemicals so concentrated within the kidney that they form crystals. The pain that you feel from the stones is when the crystals have accumulated so much they become stones and travel to the urinary tract. How can you prevent kidney stones from happening? Drinking citrus drinks like orange juice can help. Orange juice contain citric acid and citrates, thought to reduce the occurrence of the stones. Also, potassium citrate is usually prescribed as a remedy to patients and the citrates found in oranges have a similar effect.
Positively Affects Gut Microbiota
Having an imbalance in gut bacteria can lead to serious ailments such as diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndromes.. Some causes of this imbalance includes eating high-fat and high-carb diets.
Studies have show that eating these unhealthy diets can result in a molecule called endotoxin being present within the blood. Where does this molecule come from? Within your gut microbiota. The excess of carbohydrates ushers this endotoxin, which causes excess inflammation due to our immune system seeing it as a threat.
How can you prevent this from happening? Orange juice. As stated before, orange juice has the ability to fight inflammation within the body. It seems that through a healthy diet and consumption of orange juice, you can assist your body in fighting off inflammation that can lead to diseases.
