For years, the world has been hearing all about antioxidants in oranges and other citrus, but it seems that, up until now, scientists had underestimated the power of these plants.
Many studies have been released in the past in regards of antioxidants in oranges, and it's even ingrained in folk culture that fruits such as oranges, lemon and the rest of citrus are very important to keep a healthy body and brain; however, a recent study shows that the way this works is multiplied by ten as to how it was previously thought.
According to Science Daily, the new findings regarding antioxidants in oranges, lime and the like, happened in a Plataforma SINC investigation by the name of "Nutritional and physicochemical characteristic of commercial Spanish citrus juices," a study released in the journal Food Chemistry earlier this month.
In the study, scientists from Spain's University of Granada used a new technique that measures antioxidants in oranges, according to Economic Times. This technique, named global antioxidant response (GAR), showed in tests that the properties of citrus in this matter had been greatly undervalued.
The global antioxidant response testing measures different chemical parameters for its assessments, such as fluorescence, color and, most importantly, the relationship between those concentrations that are being analyzed versus the compounds' indicators such as furfural.
Many different foods were tested besides oranges in antioxidants, but the peculiarity found in this study is that the properties of different citrus had been widely underrated, at about a tenfold.
"The antioxidant activity is, on average, ten times higher than that which everyone thought up until now," said Jose Angel Rufian Henares, co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Granada, according to The Health Site.
This is great news for those who love these fruits, as they've shown to be even healthier than previously thought of - and, due to their nature, citrus can be found in different parts of the world in all seasons, so they're readily available to the population for consumption.
