In a time of ocean voyages and rare medical advances, sailors feared scurvy, a disease that affected them most. Today we know that scurvy is nothing more than a vitamin C deficiency in our body and that if you just eat an orange a day, it can be cured.
Check out all the benefits that eating an orange a day can offer your body to keep you healthy:
1. Helps gut health
According to some studies, daily consumption of oranges can have a positive effect on our gut microbiota. It also causes a drop in glucose, insulin sensitivity and LDL (bad cholesterol). Orange juice acts as a prebiotic and promotes the growth of intestinal bacteria, which is important for our health.
2. It can help you lose weight
To achieve our weight loss goals, we need to exercise and eat a balanced diet, which means eating all the nutrients our bodies need to function properly. Fortunately for us, oranges are very rich in essential nutrients; by eating just one orange a day, we can cover some of them.
An average-sized orange provides the body with only 60 calories. The fruit also has 3 grams of fiber, which provides benefits such as better gut health, good cholesterol and a lower risk of heart disease, and it also slows down the way our body digests sugar. Fiber can also help us feel fuller for longer. A diet rich in it can help reduce appetite and calorie intake, leading to weight loss. When eating an orange, be sure to consume not only the juice, but also the orange peel, as this is where most of the fiber is found.
3. Assists your body in creating collagen.
One orange provides about 70 milligrams of vitamin C. This vital nutrient also has amazing benefits, such as improving iron absorption, fighting inflammation and lowering blood pressure, and it also helps build collagen in our bones.
Collagen is a protein that our body produces. It provides structural support to tissues and aids in important processes such as tissue repair and immune response. As we age, collagen production slows down and elastin is lost, resulting in aging and our skin looking saggy and dry.
It’s not possible to completely stop collagen loss because it’s part of aging, but we can try to slow down the process, and eating an orange a day can make a difference.
4. May be helpful in maintaining good vision.
Researchers say that if you eat an orange a day, you’re more likely to have a 60% reduced risk of developing macular degeneration, an eye disease that can blur your central vision to the point where even glasses won’t help you. to see. This condition can form due to the natural aging process.
Vitamin C is very important for our vision as it contributes to healthy blood vessels in our eyes and can help fight cataracts. If we want to have good vision in the future, it might be a good idea to start monitoring our daily intake of vitamin C.
5. Protects important organs, such as the heart and brain
According to a study, normal levels of vitamin C in our blood are associated with improved focus, memory and attention. Oranges can help our minds stay sharp as we age, and one medium-sized orange provides the recommended daily intake of vitamin C that our bodies need to stay healthy. This essential vitamin is also a powerful antioxidant that fights free radicals that can cause damage to our brain cells.
A review of 10 studies found that consumption of orange juice may be helpful in improving certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This means that this delicious juice can help prevent heart disease, which is the number one cause of premature death.
Some symptoms of scurvy or vitamin C deficiency
Scurvy is a condition that is very rare because most of us get enough vitamin C from our daily diet, but it has happened before. Vitamin C helps our body produce collagen, and if not enough collagen is produced in our body, the tissue begins to break down.
Some of the symptoms of scurvy are fatigue, lethargy, anemia, gum disease, tooth loss, poor wound healing, depression, swelling and bone pain.
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