Compounds in citrus fruit could prevent obesity related chronic diseases read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/668-compounds-in-citrus-fruit-could-prevent-obesity-related-chronic-diseases

Oranges and other citrus fruits contain plenty of vitamins and substances, such as antioxidants, that can keep you healthy.

Now, a new research indicates that in the future we can use citrus flavanones, a class of antioxidants, to prevent or delay chronic diseases caused by obesity.

According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than one third of all adults in the U.S. are obese. Being obese increases the risk of developing heart disease, liver disease and diabetes, because of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Fat cells produce excessive reactive oxygen species, which can damage cells in a process called oxidative stress.

The body can usually fight off the molecules with antioxidants. But, obese patients have very enlarged fat cells, which can lead to even higher levels of reactive oxygen species that overwhelm the body's ability to counteract them.

Citrus fruits contain large amounts of antioxidants, which are called flavanones. The team, at Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in Brazil, conducted an experiment with 50 mice, treating them with flavanones found in oranges, limes and lemons.

Researchers focused on flavanones hesperidin, eriocitrin and eriodictyol. For a month, they gave groups either a standard diet, a high-fat diet, a high-fat diet plus hesperidin, a high-fat diet plus eriocitrin or a high-fat diet plus eriodictyol.

The group who consumed high-fat diet without the flavanones showed increased the levels of cell-damage markers called Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) by 80 percent in the blood and 57 percent in the liver compared to mice on a standard diet. 

But hesperidin, eriocitrin and eriodictyol decreased the TBARS levels in the liver by 50 percent, 57 percent and 64 percent, compared with mice fed a high-fat diet but not given flavanones.

Eriocitrin and eriodictyol also reduced TBARS levels in the blood by 48 percent and 47 percent, respectively, in these mice.

In addition, mice treated with hesperidin and eriodictyol had reduced fat accumulation and damage in the liver.

Researchers said for people to get a similar disease-fighting effect at home, it may be as easy as a glass of lime juice.