Eating more oranges can serve a dual purpose for both beauty and health, truly a "two birds with one stone" healthy food! More interestingly, the orange is a treasure trove; in addition to the pulp, the orange peel is also rich in limonoids, making it a powerful weapon against breast cancer! For friends who smoke, oranges are a blessing, as they can eliminate many of the harmful substances caused by smoking!
Dr. Najera from the University of Ontario has conducted extensive research on oranges. He discovered that the orange color of the fruit is not the carotenoids we often talk about, but rather a flavonoid belonging to the polyphenol series. Orange Peel Prevents Oxidation
The most important component among the flavonoids in oranges is hesperidin. This hesperidin often works in conjunction with vitamin C to protect our health. After hesperidin "fights" with reactive oxygen species, it regenerates vitamin C and moves it back to its original position to perform its "daily work" of preventing oxidation.
Dr. Najera specifically observed and studied how the phytochemicals in oranges and how orange peels fight against cancer. His research concluded that the phytochemicals and hesperidin in oranges are far more abundant than genistein (a well-known substance for inhibiting breast cancer) found in beans, and can effectively inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells. However, up to now, when it comes to inhibiting breast cancer, people always think of eating more beans, not oranges, which seems to be a common misconception.
Dr. Najera extracted limonoids from the peels, seeds, and cell walls of oranges for experiments related to breast cancer. The results were incredible: limonoids have 45 times the power to inhibit tumor formation compared to hesperidin. When tested on lung cancer, skin cancer, and stomach cancer, it also achieved remarkable results. Making Cancer Cells "Commit Suicide"
Limonoids prevent the proliferation of cancer cells in two ways: one is to send "liaison officers" to attract enzymes that can remove carcinogenic toxins; the other is to induce abnormally produced cancer cells to "commit suicide."
Not only can limonoids induce cancer cell suicide, but they can also reduce the harm caused by smoking. This powerful anti-cancer substance, limonoid, does not "reside" in the orange pulp but exists in the orange peel and seeds. However, the orange peel and seeds are usually thrown away, which causes people to lose the opportunity to consume limonoids and increases the chance of harmful substances growing.
Learning this important information, we really have to thank Dr. Najera. Without his research, we would probably continue to throw these good things into the trash. Now, if you want to effectively defend against lung cancer, skin cancer, and stomach cancer, then don't throw away the peels of oranges and tangerines. Of course, you also need to find a way to eat the orange seeds. There are various methods to do this, for example, juicing the entire orange might solve the problem of the peel and seeds being difficult to eat.