-
Did you really need another excuse to drink orange juice? Say no more!
Orange juice has become the icon of a healthy breakfast more than any other fruit juice. As breakfast has often been called the most important meal of the day, the star beverage found almost without fail in a square breakfast meal is a tall glass of orange juice.
But the benefits of orange juice extend well beyond its early morning role.
Orange juice has a wealth of benefits that make it not just a cornerstone to a complete breakfast but an overall healthy diet. With all its benefits, it’s pretty much a health supplement that tastes great.
So what’s the nutritional value of orange juice?
Nutritional Breakdown of Orange Juice
The great thing about fresh orange juice is getting all the nutritional benefits of a whole fruit packed into an easily drinkable form. The key to understanding some of the lesser-known benefits of orange juice is getting a better grip on what the nutritional make-up of orange juice means for you.
It’s one thing to know that orange juice is rich in vitamin C – that’s the most well-known fact about orange juice. But how much vitamin C is actually in orange juice? And how does that translate into real-life benefits to your health?
A sharp profile of orange juice’s most powerful nutrients gives you a better idea of how and why it’s such a benefit to your health.
Here are some nutritional facts about orange juice that showcase its powerful effects.
Vitamin C
You probably already knew this. Orange juice is absolutely packed with vitamin C. But how packed is it?
Just one glass of orange juice contains a staggering 124 mg of vitamin C. That’s 128% of your daily USDA recommended intake. You’re getting more than enough vitamin C with a single glass of orange juice. That’s how rich it is in vitamin C.
Thiamin (Vitamin B1)
Thiamin is a nutrient you might not hear about outside of its alias vitamin B1. But vitamin B1 is super essential to our body, giving us the energy we need to keep our nervous system running the way it needs to.
Orange juice is rich in thiamin, or vitamin B1. Just one cup of orange juice contains 19% of your daily recommended amount of thiamin.
Folate (Vitamin B9)
Folates are super important for our bodies. Perhaps better known as vitamin B9, folates help fuel the creation of amino acids like DNA and RNA, some of the most foundational compounds in the body.
Vitamin B9 is also associated with the production of red blood cells.
Orange juice gives you 19% of your recommended folate intake in a single glass, making it an excellent source of folates and all the benefits they bring, along with other B vitamins found in orange juice.
Minerals Like Magnesium and Potassium
In one glass of orange juice, you’re getting a reliable source of minerals like magnesium and potassium. These minerals are electrolytes, like the ones you find in sports drinks.
Magnesium has been shown to affect everything from our mental health to our blood sugar levels. Potassium has also been shown to help reduce our blood pressure and prevent our risk of strokes.
The magnesium and potassium you get in just one glass of orange juice account for 7% and 11% of your daily recommended intake. In addition, orange juice is also a good source of calcium.
What Are the Benefits of Orange Juice?
So these are just a few of the nutrients and minerals that make orange juice such a healthy factor in our diet. But how does this actually translate into benefits for you? What does this nutritional profile mean for your health?
Orange Juice May Have Strong Immune-Boosting Properties
If there’s one benefit of orange juice you may have heard about, it affects your immune system. Thanks to its rich vitamin C and folate content and anti-inflammatory properties, orange juice may affect our immune system.
As mentioned before, citrus fruit juices like orange juice are packed with vitamin C and folates. These two nutrients have been strongly associated with the healthy functioning of our immune system.
They help our body create cells that fight on the frontlines in our immune system’s battle against infection. Vitamin C and folates are known to have swelling-reducing properties that keep our immune system sharp.
Cells like natural killer cells, T-cells, and B-cells have been shown to rely on essential nutrients like vitamin C and folates. These immune cells flood the body when we need to fight infections or stave off inflammation.
The results are more precise than that. It has been shown that the daily consumption of orange juice can result in an improved immune system.
Simply put, drinking orange juice and other such boosters of vitamin C and folates have been reliably shown to give your immune system the ability to better protect your body.
Orange Juice Replenishes Your Electrolytes
Your familiarity with electrolytes may stem from their prominence in sports drinks.
As mentioned before, orange juice is rich in electrolytes like potassium, magnesium, and calcium. As it happens, potassium and magnesium are two of the essential electrolytes we can get. But what are the actual benefits of electrolytes? There’s a reason why electrolytes are so prominent in sports drinks.
Electrolytes are minerals with an electrical charge, hence the name electrolytes. This allows us to conduct the necessary electrical firings that will enable our bodies to function correctly. It may surprise you, but our body runs on electricity, and electrolytes allow that to happen.
Given the fundamental function of electrical firings in the body, a healthy electrolyte level provides a range of benefits that keep us going. For example, electrolytes have been shown to be crucial in balancing the fluid levels in our body, which means they help us stay hydrated and operate at our best.
Additionally, electrolytes are crucial in keeping our blood pressure balanced, staving off our risks of high blood pressure, and maintaining our body’s pH level.
Especially for physically active folks, the electrolytes you get from orange juice are crucial to giving you the energy you need to stay active.
To get the distilled benefits of orange juice in a small package–perfect for active juicers–check out PURs Defense Elixir Wellness shot, rich in all the electrolytes and immune-boosting nutrients that make orange juice a big part of a healthy diet.
Help You Detoxify Your Body
Orange juice is rich in antioxidants, the kind of nutrients that help prevent the cell-damaging effects of oxidative stress. You might be wondering, what’s oxidative stress? And for that matter, what exactly are antioxidants?
Oranges are a good source of vitamins A, C, E, carotenoids, lutein, and flavonoids. These are all antioxidants that can provide your body with the means to prevent damage to your cells from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress is caused by free radicals and unstable molecules that cause the degradation of our cells.
Free radicals result from natural processes like exercising and eating. But they also occur when we are exposed to excessive sunlight, smoke from tobacco products, or carbon emissions in the air.
In short, no matter how much we try to remove ourselves from toxins, they are a natural byproduct of our bodily function. Antioxidants can provide the body with a countermeasure to these toxins.
Keep Your Cholesterol Levels in Balance
For many health-conscious people, cholesterol levels tend to be among the most pressing concerns regarding our diet. Keeping our cholesterol levels can be a crucial check to preventing the increased risk of various health conditions.
As it turns out, orange juice could provide you with another way to keep your cholesterol levels in harmonious balance.
When it comes to cholesterol, there’s primarily your LDL and HDL. LDL, in short, is the bad cholesterol you might often hear about. This is the cholesterol that builds up in your blood vessels, increasing your risk of stroke and heart disease.
Alternatively, there’s HDL cholesterol, which filters out and keeps down your harmful cholesterol levels. Pretty much, you want more HDL cholesterol and less LDL cholesterol.
If you want to keep better cholesterol balances, drinking orange juice could be a simple way to do so. Drinking more orange juice has been shown to keep the bad cholesterol, LDL, down and the good cholesterol, HDL, up.
Juicing Makes Being Healthy Easy
There are so many health benefits to get from fruits and vegetables. And if you feel like you’re not getting enough fruits and veggies, juicing gives you an efficient and delicious way to get all the nutrients your body craves in a simple way.
At PUR, our raw juice cleanses are tailored to help get your body on track.
Want more out of your meals? Juicing allows you to cram all the nutrients you need into a small, easily consumable package. Check out some of our individual selections chock full of nutrients.
Whether you’re on a journey toward weight loss or just want great-tasting juices without added sugar, PUR is here for you.
Sources:
Orange juice, raw | Nutrition Value
Folate (folic acid) – Vitamin B9 | Harvard School of Public Health