We know that they’re good for us because they’re loaded with Vitamin C, fiber and a bunch of other stuff like antioxidants and enzymes.

What we don’t know is why a whole orange is better for us than a handful of vitamins & antioxidants.

And it’s that question that got a bunch of researchers at BYU all excited to find out why eating oranges protects our cardio-vascular system from free radicals and a bunch of other junk flowing through our veins.

So, here’s what they did.

The Research

Operating under the assumption that an orange is more than just a collection of Vitamin C and a bunch of antioxidants, the researchers took a closer look at the polyphenol antioxidants found in a navel orange.

They looked at how these antioxidants worked alone and in combinations to create a “healthy” effect.

Their research identified three different combinations of 2 compounds and 5 combinations of 3 compounds to be synergistic.

In particular, the combination of the phenolic compounds hesperidin and naringenin appeared to provide the strongest antioxidant effect (as measured by ORAC)



Conclusion(s)

An orange is much more than the sum of it’s parts
The antioxidants found in an orange work together to increase their collective “healthy” effect
Scientists are going to examine these combinations
Supplement companies & pharmaceutical companies are going to market these combinations
And 10 years from now, researchers are going to identify new compounds in oranges that they had never dreamed of…and those compounds will be studied and identified and produced as nutritional supplements and sold for a large profit.