Citrus fruits are not just delicious...

Citrus fruits are not only delicious for their balanced tart and sweet taste, but they are also an essential part of everyday nutrition. Packed with multiple nutrients such as vitamin C, flavonoids, and fiber, citrus fruits confer vascular protection, reduce inflammation, improve gastrointestinal function, and help prevent diabetes and cancer.

Citrons, called Thyon by the Greeks and Citrus by the Romans, have long been in demand for religious celebrations and thanksgiving services. The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which has its roots as a festival thanksgiving for the fruit harvest, features the citron prominently.

New varieties of citrus fruit, including oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit, were developed as hybrids with the original citron. Spanish explorers brought sweet oranges to the American continent. Christopher Columbus may have introduced citrus seeds to Haiti on his second voyage in 1493.

The fruits, which were valued for their medicinal properties, were found wherever they were grown and were used to treat a wide range of human ailments. Today, we know much more about the nutrients and phytochemicals in citrus fruits that give them their immune-boosting powers:

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is one of the most popular vitamins in the world. Fruits like oranges and lemons are rich sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps form and maintain healthy skin, bones, blood vessels, and connective tissues. It also plays an essential role in supporting your immune system and acts as an antioxidant. By reducing inflammation and preventing anemia, vitamin C may help reduce the risk of heart disease, arthritis, and some types of cancer. Vitamin C helps the body absorb the iron found in plants (non-heme iron), essential to human health.

Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C, which is needed to build healthy body tissues. As a result, eating a citrus fruit with a leafy green salad with seeds, nuts, beans, and other plant-based foods will help boost the amount of iron your body absorbs. In addition, citrus fruits contain flavonoids.

Flavonoids

Flavonoids are compounds that give plants their color and make them smell good. Citrus fruit like oranges and lemons contain flavonoids. Other foods, like dark chocolate, contain flavonoids too. Flavonoids have been shown to protect the heart, lower cholesterol levels and fight the spread of cancer cells. Citrus flavonoids can help protect against diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity, reducing insulin resistance, and improving glucose tolerance. They may also help reduce obesity and inflammation of fat cells.

Finally, citrus flavonoids can modulate gut bacteria composition and activity and improve gut barrier function and inflammation. These effects on gut bacteria suggest that the intake of citrus flavonoids can contribute to a healthy gut.

We use lime in all our wellness tonics. It acts as an acidity regulator (which means we can process without chemical preservatives), and well, just read about it. It's good stuff.