07/09/2023
5 Reasons to Eat Grapefruit Year Round (hint: It’s good for your heart)
By: The Well Daily Team
Citrus fruits are beautiful and full of impressive health-promoting compounds. Contrary to popular belief, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, etc., aren’t just a winter delight. Enjoying them all year provides tremendous benefits, especially if you are concerned about cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and weight gain. Let’s unpeel this fantastic group of fruits and see what is inside.
What are citrus fruits?
Citrus fruits are native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and possibly Southeast Asia. They grow on flowering trees and shrubs and are known for their leathery rind and white pith. These fruits grow in tropical and subtropical climates worldwide, including Spain, Brazil, China, Mexico, India, and the United States.
Although you can find many kinds of citrus fruits all year, the peak season for oranges and grapefruit in the Northern Hemisphere is between the middle of December and April.
Here are some popular citrus varieties:
Sweet oranges – navel, blood orange, cara cara, and valencia
Mandarins – clemintine, tangelo, satsuma
Limes – Persian, key lime, kaffir
Lemons – eureka, meyer
Grapefruit – white, ruby red, oroblanco
Other – citron, sudachi, yuzu, pomelo
The overall goodness of citrus
Citrus fruits are high in naringin, a small bioflavonoid that is incredibly healthy for the body. It lowers oxidative stress, improves cholesterol, lowers triglycerides, raises LDL, improves blood sugar, and increases beneficial enzymes.
Citrus fruits are heart-healthy
Heart disease kills over 655,000 Americans annually. Heart health should be a top priority of everyone. A Japanese study found that people who consumed more citrus fruit had lower heart disease and stroke rates.
The Nurses’ Health Study revealed that women who ate high quantities of flavanone from oranges, grapefruits, and their juices had a 19 percent decrease in their risk for blood-clot-related stroke. Data was compiled from 69,622 individuals.