As we are going through the waves of deadliest pandemic , our focus has been shifted to health and health related issues lately. Most of us trying to adapt a healthy lifestyle to stay fit and disease-free now. To defeat this life-threatening Covid-19 virus, it is very important to have a strong immunity. For building and maintaining a good immunity system, one of the most common advice the nutritionists suggest is to have fruits, especially, citrus fruits. In this article we will try to share valuable nutritional information and health benefits of citrus fruits.

What is Citrus Fruits?

Citrus fruits category includes a few very common fruits that abundantly available in almost every region of this country, as well as, in the world. The fruits under this category are: oranges, tangerines, mosambi or Sweet lime, lime and grapes. These trees are basically evergreen Shrubs, found in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions.

What are the beneficial components in Citrus Fruits?

There are plenty of components in citrus fruits which help in many ways to stay fit and healthy. The components and their health benefits are as below:

Vitamin – C :

It is also knows as Ascorbic acid. Vitamin-C primarily helps with building a good immunity and healing wounds, As well as, it is important to maintain bone, cartilage and teeth.

Carotenoids:

They have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Pro-carotenoids are the precursor of Vitamin-A which help in maintaining good immunity, eye-sight and also in growth and development.

Flavonoids:

Flavonoids also have anti-inflammatory, anti- oxidant properties. Along with anti-carcinogenic and anti-mutant properties, it helps in controlling several cardiovascular diseases.

Calcium:

Calcium is beneficial for bone and teeth health, also for good metabolism of the body.

Potassium:

Potassium helps to maintain normal fluid balance in body , also important for several nerve functions.

Some soluble and insoluble fibres:

Soluble fibre help in controlling normal blood glucose and cholesterol level in body; insoluble fibre helps in bowel movement.

Tannin:

Tannin helps in several physiological functions of body, for example: in rapid blood clotting, reduce blood pressure, decreases blood lipid level etc.

Essential oils:

The essential oils from different plants help to control or treat some conditions when applied externally, for example, to reduce chronic migraine pain or enhance concentration while working etc.

Other than these there are abundance of micro elements in citrus fruits, like Vitamin B 1,2,3,6 and 9. phosphorus, manganese, zinc, selenium, copper, sodium etc. The overall nutritional importance of citrus fruits is, thus very high and highly recommended to consume on a regular basis.

Health Benefits of Citrus Fruits:

The contribution of citrus fruits to our health is incredible. Let’s have a look a few major benefits of citrus fruits:

Anti-Carcinogenic Properties:

The flavonoids present in citrus fruits have anti-carcinogenic properties as mentioned earlier.

Cardiovascular Properties:

The citrus flavonoids are very helpful against clumping of red blood cells, because it shows anti-aggregation and anti-adhesive actions, thus facilitates good cardiovascular activities.

Hyperglycemia:

It also helps to control diabetic condition by regulating blood glucose level of the body.

Anti-inflammatory, Anti-allergic and Analgesic Properties:

By helping in releasing histamin and in several other metabolisms, citrus fruits help in anti-inflammatory and anti allergic actions.

Lipid Control:

As citrus fruits contain good amount of soluble and insoluble fibres, many studies have shown their effectiveness in controlling blood lipid level and cholesterol

As you know now, one citrus fruit in a day can help your body to fight against a number of ailments and most importantly the plenty of nutritional components provide strength to your body and thus a disease-free life can be led. So, we would like to suggest you to include at least one fruit everyday either in the mid-morning or in the afternoon after at least 1 hour of lunch. Also, to conclude, it is important to mention that, try to consume whole fruits instead of juices (synthetic or organic) to get the maximum health benefits.

If you have any further queries, please feel free to ask us.