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New Study Shows Florida Citrus Fruit Protects Your Heart

February 14, 2012 By nancy

It’s Valentine’s Day which is a good day to love your heart, and new research shows there’s no better way to love your heart than eating fresh Florida oranges and Florida grapefruit. Nutritionists have promoted the heart-healthy benefits of Florida citrus fruit for some time, but new research indicates that scientists are only beginning to understand the full scope of those benefits.

We already know that adding fresh Florida oranges and Florida grapefruit to your daily diet can help reduce blood pressure and decrease cholesterol, but the latest research shows that it can also prevent heart failure. The magical heart-healthy ingredient in Florida citrus fruit is pectin. A soluble fiber, pectin attracts the cholesterol in the food you eat and blocks its absorption into the blood stream. The high potassium content in Florida oranges and Florida grapefruit also helps control blood pressure by counteracting the effects of salt.

Most recently, researchers have discovered that citrus pectin can be instrumental in preventing congestive heart failure. The pectin found in the pulp and pith of Florida oranges and Florida grapefruit neutralizes galectin-3, a protein that causes heart tissue to scar, eventually leading to congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure is an eventually fatal progressive illness that does not respond well to drug therapy. More than 20% of Americans have high galectin-3, placing them at increased risk of developing congestive heart failure. A diet rich in fresh, whole Florida citrus fruit can help lower that risk.

Filed Under: Citrus Health Benefits, Florida Citrus, Florida Grapefruit, Florida Oranges Tagged With: , , ,

Last Chance to Order Florida Temple Oranges, Honey Tangerines

February 9, 2012 By nancy

If you don’t want to miss out on two of Florida’s most outstanding citrus treats, you’d better place your order now. Next week is the final week FloridaOrange.com will be able to ship sweet, juicy Florida Temple oranges and luscious, honey-sweet Florida Honey tangerines. Horticultural cousins, Temple oranges and Honey tangerines are both mandarin/orange hybrids. The combination adds a wonderful mandarin spiciness to a robust classic orange flavor resulting in a unique citrus flavor that has won fans around the world. Unfortunately, these two Florida citrus varieties are only available for a very short time and time is running out!

Sweet, juicy and easy to peel, Florida Temple oranges are Florida’s finest eating orange. Their deep orange skin is easily removed, revealing a richly-scented fruit of superior texture and flavor. Dripping with sweet juice, Florida Temple oranges are a nutritious addition to your breakfast and make a refreshing mid-day treat.

With zipper-like skin and sections that seem to fall apart at your touch, Florida Honey tangerines are perfect for on-the-go snacking. Bright orange skins quickly peel off to reveal deep orange fruit that is bursting with honey-sweet juice.

Florida Temple oranges and Honey tangerines are prized for their delicious juice as well as whole eating. Fresh-squeezed juice can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days or frozen for long-term enjoyment. After defrosting, shake well to remix the juice.

Order your Florida Temple oranges and Florida Honey tangerines from FloridaOrange.com today!

Filed Under: Florida Citrus, Florida Oranges, Honey Tangerines, Temple Oranges Tagged With: , , ,

Is Organic OJ Just as Healthy as Fresh Florida Orange Juice?

February 7, 2012 By nancy

When you’re shopping for orange juice, it’s not always easy to tell which products offer the best nutrition. Package labeling that boasts about vitamin C content or the addition of calcium or vitamin D can make some juice products seem more nutritious than others. Then, of course, there are organic juices which everyone says are healthier than juices without an organic label — except sometimes they’re not!

As we noted in our previous post, the closer a food is to its natural source, the higher its nutritional value. When foods are processed, nutrients are lost at each step in the process. This is just as true of organic orange juice as it is of other juices found in the dairy section of your local grocery. Organic juices may be healthier than non-organic juices, but nothing beats the nutritional value of pure just-squeezed juice from a whole fresh Florida orange.

When you’re shopping, nutritionists suggest using the following hierarchy to determine the nutritional value of fruit juice. Products with the highest level of nutrition — and the least processing — are at the top of the chart.

  1. Fresh whole Florida orange
  2. Fresh-squeezed juice from Florida oranges
  3. Organic 100% orange juice, not from concentrate
  4. Processed 100% orange juice, not from concentrate
  5. Orange juice from concentrate
  6. Orange juice beverage

Filed Under: Citrus Health Benefits, Florida Citrus, Florida Oranges Tagged With: , ,

Fresh or Frozen: Which Orange Juice Is Better for You?

February 2, 2012 By nancy

Orange juice made from concentrates claim to be just as healthy for you as fresh-squeezed orange juice. Frozen orange juice concentrates and the liquid orange juices made from concentrate that are sold in the dairy section of your grocery store would like you to think that they offer the same delicious taste, vitamins and healthy nutrients as the pure, fresh orange juice they attempt to imitate. Their labels tout their flavor and vitamin C content. They tempt you to buy them by adding calcium and vitamin D to boost their nutritional value. But is orange juice made from concentrates really as good for you as the fresh-squeezed juice from fresh, ripe Florida oranges?

In a word, NO. Nutritionists say the closer a food is to its natural source, the higher its nutritional value; and you can’t get any closer to nature than the juice from a fresh-picked, fresh-squeezed Florida orange! Every step in the food processing process removes vital nutrients that are contained in the whole food. The more processed a food is the greater its nutrient loss.

Manufacturers replace some of that nutrient loss by adding chemically-created vitamins back into their product. However, many nutrients, especially the important phytonutrients only found in fresh oranges, cannot be replaced after they have been removed during processing. Also, because our bodies absorb natural nutrients more efficiently and more completely than artificial nutrients, the nutrient value of fresh Florida orange juice will always be higher than that of processed concentrates.

Next time: But what about organics?

Filed Under: Citrus Health Benefits, Florida Oranges, Health Tagged With: ,
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