Oranges, taste great (juiced or not), look nice and smell delightful (unless you got one of those 3 week old, ex-frozen supermarket options). These lovely, bright coloured fruit are jam-packed with vitamin C, flavonoids and much more.

Before they came to your local green grocer oranges were

being cultivated by the Chinese around 2500 BC and in the Assam area of India and in Myanmar. The orange first ventured across the Atlantic Ocean in 1493 with Christopher Columbus. Columbus carried seeds of the orange, lemon and citron, or possibly young trees, from Spain's Canary Islands to the island of Hispaniola, today shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Brazil is the world's leading producer of oranges. One half of all the world's orange juice comes from Brazil, and it provides 80 of the country's production is based in the Sao Paolo region, on Brazil's southwestern coast. 20,000 farms employing 400,000 workers grow China, Valencia, Natal, and Navel oranges, contributing to a $1 billion juice industry. Brazil's biggest customer is the Netherlands, number three, the United States.

Other than tasting nice and being one of the world's most popular fruits (like the apple) what's good about them? Oranges contain many phytonutrients (plant compounds) including, herperidin which has been shown to lower high blood pressure as well as cholesterol in animal studies, and to have strong anti-inflammatory properties. Many of the important ingredients in an orange are found in the skin and white inner peel. While juicing is great, you will lose some of the benefits of eating the whole orange.

Here are some of the health benefits of our little round friends;

Citrus appears to offer the most significant protection against esophageal, oro-phayngeal/laryngeal (mouth, larynx and pharynx), and stomach cancers. For these cancers, studies showed risk reductions of 40 - 50%.

citrus fruits also offers protection against cardiovascular disease due to citrus fruits' folate, which is necessary for lowering levels of the cardiovascular risk factor, homocysteine; their, potassium, which helps lower blood pressure, protecting against stroke and cardiac arrhythmias.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better….

The CSIRO released a report that includes evidence of positive effects associated with citrus consumption in studies for arthritis, asthma, Alzheimer's disease and cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, gallstones, multiple sclerosis, cholera, gingivitis, optimal lung function, cataracts, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

And like apples, oranges can help prevent kidney stones (if you ever had these you know how painful they are!). There is also new research showing that oranges can lessen stomach ulcers.

Oranges can either be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator, depending upon your preference. They will generally last the same amount of time, two weeks with either method, and will retain nearly the same level of their vitamin content. The best way to store oranges is loose rather than wrapped in a plastic bag since if exposed to moisture, they can easily develop mould.

Here's the average vitamin content of an orange;

Nutritional value per 131 gms

Energy 61kcal

Carbohydrates 15.39 g

- Sugars 12.26 g

- Dietary fiber 3.13 g

Fat 0.16 g

Protein 1.23 g

Vitamin A equiv. 268.55 iu

Thiamin (Vit. B1) 0.11 mg

Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.05 mg

Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.37 mg

Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.33 mg

Vitamin B6 0.08 mg

Folate (Vit. B9) 39.69 mcg

Vitamin C 69.69 mg

Calcium 52.4 mg

Iron 0.13 mg

Magnesium 13.1 mg

Phosphorus 18.34 mg

Potassium 237.11 mg

Zinc 0.09 mg

An orange a day can also keep your Doctor away. Just the large hit of potassium will help keep your body in an alkaline state (this is good!).

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