Eat Mandarin Against Fat

When you want to lose weight, one strategy often used is to avoid foods that are high in sugar. So what better way to appease that sweet craving than with a natural substitute like mandarin orange?

Tangerines are staple foods. Fortunately, they are a perfect fit for a fat-fighting diet. Plus, they’re sweet enough to eat as snacks and desserts, making them wonderful substitutes for high-calorie sweets.

Health benefits

Tangerines, along with oranges, are of course most famous for their vitamin C content (27 mg per 100 g). This is particularly important for smokers. They may require twice as much vitamin C as non-smokers to help protect them from developing respiratory syndromes. For women of reproductive age, tangerines are also a source of folic acid, known to help prevent neural tube birth defects.

Tangerine also contains phytochemicals, many of which are flavonoids. Thus, flavonoids protect blood vessels, reduce inflammation and are strong antioxidants. Polyphenol phytochemicals are antioxidants.

Polyphenols are currently being examined for their role in memory and other brain functions. Another group of phytochemicals, flavanones, especially one called hesperidin, can decrease inflammation. According to a study published in 2003 in Actas Urológicas Españolas, hesperidin could be used in the treatment of varicose veins.

Hesperidin is found in the inner white pulp of the mandarin. Therefore, it is recommended to eat as much of the white membrane that your taste buds will tolerate.

The power of tangerine against fat

Laboratory research by Murray Huff’s team from Western Ontario University shows that nobiletine, a flavonoid found in mandarins, prevents the accumulation of fat in the liver by stimulating the expression of genes involved in burning excess fat. and the inhibition of the genes responsible for the manufacture of the lipid.

This is the same group that discovered a flavonoid in grapefruit called naringenin. It offered similar protection against obesity and other signs of metabolic syndrome. According to Huff, what is really interesting to them is that nobiletine is ten times more potent in its protective effects compared to naringenin and Nobiletin also has the ability to protect against atherosclerosis.