Health Benefits Of Mandarins Or Mandarin Oranges
There are various health benefits to eating mandarins or mandarin oranges because of how rich this fruit is in various nutrients. Mandarins are unique citrus fruits containing signature phenolic compounds that could support your health and wellness. These compounds and antioxidant vitamins like vitamin C are responsible for most of the potential health benefits of consuming mandarins.
Mandarin oranges can be consumed instead of industrially refined snacks as part of a healthy diet. This is partly because of how naturally sweet mandarins are in taste. This has potential health benefits in the healthier spectrum of nutrients that mandarins could provide compared to other snacks. Fruits containing vitamins and healthy sugars are considered to be better for your health than industrially refined foods.
Production of mandarins has risen significantly in recent years. They may become increasingly popular as the nutrition and wellness industry continues to grow. Mandarins provide oxidative stress or inflammation reducing effects that could assist with reducing the risks of developing some inflammatory diseases.
In this article the health benefits of mandarins and mandarin oranges will be considered.
Vitamin C
There is 21.2mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of mandarin oranges. The vitamin C comes in the form of ascorbic acid. This water soluble vitamin is essential for us to consume because it canโt be made by the body.
Fruits tend to be rich sources of this vitamin but mandarin oranges are rich in vitamin C as a citrus fruit. Because of a high ratio of vitamin C this vitamin is responsible for most of the potential health benefits of eating mandarins. Our guideline RDA for vitamin C is between 75mg for women and 90mg for men. Mandarins therefore contribute significantly to our daily RDA of vitamin C.
The main action of vitamin C is as an antioxidant. Antioxidants absorb harmful energies from free radicals that have potential to cause damage to our bodies. Radicals with high energy can disrupt the DNA or other molecules within cells. The high energy dissipation from free radicals can cause cancers through DNA changes.
Antioxidants like vitamin C are essential for preventing cancers and inflammatory build ups of oxidative stress in the body. Chronic oxidative stress can lead to accelerated ageing or inflammatory diseases. This includes diabetes and heart diseases. A health benefit of consuming mandarins is the suppression of these outcomes through vitamin C intake.
Vitamin C also really important for optimal immune system functioning. This vitamin supports the production of key immune cells that kill pathogenic organisms. Vitamin C is also helps with optimal wound healing and connective tissue production. This may be partly because vitamin C promotes collagen production. Collagen is an important part of our muscles and skin. Collagen is thought to promote more youthful looks and slow body ageing.
Mandarin Fruit Specific Phenolics
Because of various adaptations for survival many fruits contain unique signature compounds. This is possibly the most interesting part of mandarin fruits for potential health benefits.
Phenolics are thought to be the most bioactive of the plant specific nutritional compounds or molecules found in mandarin fruits. This is not unusual for citrus fruits. These include polyphenols and flavonoids which have many known potential health benefits. Some phenolic compounds have antimicrobial, antioxidant or inflammatory supressing properties.
Mandarin fruits contain phenolics such as caffeic acid and p-coumaric acid. These have been shown to possess antioxidant capacities. They are also considered to be rich in the flavonoid hesperidin. Antioxidant content improves with the amount of phenolics in the mandarin fruit.
Supportive antioxidants are very important in our overall wellbeing and can reduce the risks of inflammatory diseases. Plant polyphenols help to reduce risks of diabetes, cancers and heart disease. This happens through their purifying effects on harmful compounds throughout the body. Studies show that diets rich in antioxidants improve overall wellness. This is a unique health benefit of consuming mandarins regularly.
Carotenoids
Carotenoids are pigments with a natural antioxidant activity. They are an ancestral antioxidant with heavy involvement in photosynthesis in many plants. Citrus fruits contain high amounts of carotenoids.
Mandarin fruits are particularly rich in carotenoids such as ฮฒ-cryptoxanthin. Organically grown mandarins also seem to be higher in antioxidants and carotenoids. This carotenoid has provitamin A and antioxidant activities that have health promoting potential within the body.
Provitamin A carotenoids can convert to vitamin A to produce potential health benefits such as more optimal growth and vision. Carotenoid rich foods are associated with reduced risks of cancer and age-related macular degeneration. The supportive antioxidant and pro vitamin A activity of mandarin carotenoids add to the potential health benefits of mandarins.
Dietary Fibre
The inner fruit pulp of mandarins is rich in dietary fibre and this adds to the health benefits of mandarins or mandarin oranges. There is an estimated 1.3g of dietary fibre per 100 grams of mandarins. Some of this is cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose.
Recent research is showing that dietary fibre is more of an influence on our health than previously thought. This is because of their effects on our gut microbes. There is not an RDA for dietary fibre but you should be consuming a decent amount of this as part of a healthy diet.
A healthy intake of dietary fibre contributes to the wellness of our gut bacteria. Dietary fibre is digested by our gut microbes but not by humans. This is because dietary fibres are made of complex carbohydrates that humans donโt possess the capacity to digest. Dietary fibre promotes healthy gut bacterial growth as a natural microbial feed or prebiotic.
Some gut microbes influence our health through reducing systemic inflammation. Disease causing microbes are able to cause inflammation and activate immune responses. This aggravates skin conditions. Gut dysbiosis or an increase in disease causing gut microbes contributes to skin acne and eczema. Some harmful bacteria can lead to huge increases in skin sebum production.
Health supporting gut bacteria can improve immune responses and lower inflammation in the gut. They can also support more optimal brain health. These sorts of bacteria protect our overall wellness. The improvement of gut health via added dietary fibre consumption is another potential benefit of mandarins.
Calcium
There is 44mg of calcium in mandarins per 100 grams. Calcium is an essential mineral nutrient that supports many different processes within the body. The guideline recommended daily intake for calcium is 1,000mg. Mandarins therefore provide more of a support for daily calcium intake. There are other foods which many people eat regularly with a much higher calcium intake.
Calcium is one of the most important nutrients for maintaining optimal bone mass. Bone is an essential structural component of the body and supports daily activities such as walking. Most of our bone is made of calcium and phosphorus. Mineralized calcium provides bone tissue with hardness. Calcium deficiency in the body causes losses in bone mass instead of bone tissue maintenance.
One regular issue with calcium intake from plants is oxalates. These bind to calcium as an anti nutrient and prevents its proper intake into the body. Oxalates can also cause kidney stones because of this. Mandarins contain less oxalates than other calcium rich plant foods like spinach. A supportive intake of calcium from mandarin fruits represents some of the health benefits of mandarins.
Potassium
There is about 167mg of potassium in mandarins per 100 grams of fruit. Our recommended intake of potassium is variable depending on circumstances. The recommended potassium intake per day is around 2,300mg for women and 3,000mg for men.
Potassium is essential for many processes in the body and supports our daily functioning as an electrolyte. Potassium is needed in large amounts in the body. This mineral helps to maintain healthy muscular movements and nerve transmissions. It balances with other key minerals such as sodium. Studies have also linked elevated potassium levels with a massively reduced risk of a stroke.
Healthy Sugars
Moderating sugar intake per day is an issue for a lot of people. Mandarins offer potential health benefits as a healthy substitute for junk foods or snacks in your diet. These can often be rich in unhealthy and processed sugars. This can lead to obesity and inflammatory conditions such as diabetes. Mandarins contain healthy levels of natural sugars such as sucrose and fructose.
Healthy sugars are especially important for athletes and high intensity workers. Both of these sorts of occupations require support for healthy respiration or energy production within the body. These people need energy support in their muscles and brain tissues. This is therefore another potential health benefit of regularly consuming mandarins.
In 100 grams of mandarins there is around 6g of sucrose and 1.94g of fructose. There is also 1.52g of glucose. All of these sugars can be used directly for supporting energy production.
Summary
Mandarins have health promoting benefits because of their nutrient content. They provide our body with oxidative stress or inflammation reducing nutrients. These assist our health by reducing the risks of developing some inflammatory diseases. Mandarins are also rich in natural sugars and so offer potential health benefits as a healthy substitute for industrially refined snacks.
Vitamin C is one of the most abundant nutrients in mandarin oranges. This antioxidant vitamin has the potential to reduce the risks of developing cancer and inflammatory diseases. The vitamin C content of mandarins could help with immune function and wound healing. This is because of involvement in collagen production.
Mandarins contain unique signature phenolics and carotenoids. These assist with increasing the antioxidant capacity of this fruit. Mandarin carotenoids also promote healthy growth and optimal eye health.
There are some dietary fibres within mandarin fruits that contribute to our gut health and support our overall wellbeing. Dietary fibres promote the growth of inflammatory lowering bacteria. Our gut bacteria can also improve skin and brain health. Mandarins also contain minerals such as calcium and potassium. These electrolytic minerals support bone and muscle health. Potassium is needed for optimal nerve and muscle function.
Mandarins contain a healthy nutritional content that promotes wellness and reduces the risks of developing inflammatory diseases.
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