Fruit Naringenin's Health Benefits

Citrus plants serve as a valuable reservoir of flavonoids, including naringin, naringenin, nobelitin, narirutin, and hesperidin. Particularly noteworthy among these compounds is naringenin, which is colorless and lacks taste, yet holds significance as a naturally occurring flavonoid.

Naringenin is predominantly found in specific edible fruits like various Citrus species, tomatoes, and Smyrna-type Ficus carica figs. Naringenin, in conjunction with its glycoside form, has also been detected in herbs like Greek oregano, water mint, beans, as well as cocoa and tomatoes.

Despite its widespread presence, naringenin is insoluble in water but dissolves readily in organic solvents such as alcohol. Classified as a flavanone, naringenin originates from the hydrolysis of naringin or narirutin. While naringin contains a neohesperidose bond, narirutin features a rutinoside structure; both contribute to the characteristic bitter taste found in grapefruit and sour oranges.

Extensive research has unveiled naringenin's diverse impacts on human well-being. These encompass a spectrum of effects, including the reduction of biomarkers associated with lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation, facilitation of carbohydrate metabolism, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, modulation of immune system activity, and the promotion of anti-atherogenic effects.

Furthermore, naringenin has demonstrated notable anti-inflammatory attributes and the capacity to bolster antioxidant defenses, both within controlled laboratory conditions and living organisms.
Fruit Naringenin's Health Benefits

Bioactive compounds in citrus fruit: Flavonoids

Citrus plants possess a diverse array of flavonoid components, with examples including hesperidin, naringin, and polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs), which are distinctive to citrus plants. Furthermore, rutin and quercetin are widely occurring flavonoids found throughout the plant kingdom.

The white pulp surrounding the fruit contains a concentrated amount of flavonoids. These bioflavonoids aid in the body's retention and utilization of vitamin C. When combined, these two nutrients enhance the permeability and strength of capillary walls. Consequently, the application of citrus juice to bruises can expedite the healing process.

Flavonoids are aromatic secondary metabolites in plants that have gained recognition for their physiological and pharmacological roles, as well as their associated health benefits.

Flavonoids can be categorized as flavanones, flavones, and flavonols. They exist in both free form and as glycosides in various parts of citrus fruits.

The primary flavanones prevalent in citrus fruits, particularly in higher quantities compared to other fruits, are hesperidin and narirutin. Rutin and vicenin-2 are the principal flavonols and flavones found in significant proportions.

Flavonoids play a role in enhancing fruit and juice quality through multiple mechanisms, influencing factors such as appearance, taste, and nutritional value of the plant-derived product.

For instance, in the case of lemon and orange juices, hesperidin can contribute to sediment formation, resulting in undesired cloudiness. On the other hand, naringin significantly affects the bitterness of grapefruit and bergamot juices.
Bioactive compounds in citrus fruit: Flavonoids

What are flavonoids?

Flavonoids are a large family of widely distributed plant substances formerly designated as vitamin F. They are a subgroup of a larger class of molecules called phenols. These compounds are often pigments and occur in high concentrations in all fruits, especially citrus fruits; purple berries and apples; as well as in vegetables, including onions; tea; and whole grains.

Many flavonoids occur as glycosides in foods, and both flavonoids structure and the type of sugar moiety determine their primary site of absorption.

Flavonoids are found to inhibit oxidation and decrease platelet aggregation in vitro. This observation has stimulated a number of epidemiologic studies to examine the relationship between dietary intake of flavones and risk of CHD.

Many experts suspect that the French are less vulnerable to heart disease because they consume more red wine. Presumably the protective effect is the result of the flavonoids in red wine, which protect against oxidative damage from LDL cholesterol.

In a freshly squeeze cranberry juice, 400 mg of total flavonoid and phenolics per liter of sample was found, 56% of which were flavonoids.
What are flavonoids?

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus): the health benefits

Bilberry is often referred to as the European blueberry and has long been eaten in jams, pies, cobblers and cakes.

Vaccinium myrtillus L. is a small edible berry which grows on small wiry shrubs on hillsides throughout Central and Northern Europe. Bilberry is a shrub that grows to about 16 inches high.

It has oval, pointed leaves and small pink and white flowers. It is smaller and blue throughout the pulp, a visible sign that it is even richer in anthocyanins, pigments that are high in health promoting antioxidants.

Among the 450 species belonging to the genus Vaccinium, the traditional medicinal use of Vaccinium myrtillus L. has been documented since the Middle Ages, when its fruits were recommended for a variety of conditions, and from the 16th century the plant has been systematically mentioned in all major herbal treatises.

It has a long history of being used as a treatment for diabetes. Bilberry extract may play a significant role in the prevention and treatment of glaucoma via its effect on collagen structures in the eye. It has been used historically as a treatment for fevers, coughs, renal stones and urinary tract infections, intestinal and liver disorders, hemorrhoids, and infections of the skin and mucus membranes. It was also used to treat a variety of eye disorders including myopia, eyestrain, impaired night vision and cataracts.

More recently, bilberry fruit extracts have been used for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, and mouth and throat inflammations. Bilberry extracts also can help protect the stomach against ulcers, it stimulates production of stomach mucus, which protects against digestive acids.

Researchers have long known that the pharmacologically active constituents in bilberries are flavonoids known as anthocyanosides. The major American use for bilberry fruit is to treat ocular disorders; it is used to aid night vision, prevent the development and progression of cataracts, treat diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration, and prevent glaucoma. During World War II, British fighter pilots reported improved nighttime vision after eating bilberry jam.
Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus): the health benefits

Antioxidants content in dragon fruit

Dragon fruit poses medicinal properties. This fruit is a natural source of antioxidants.

Antioxidant prevents colon cancer and diabetes, neutralizes toxic substances like heavy metals, reduces cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

It control high sugar levels, prevents cancer and bleeding and promotes dental health. Phenolic compounds, namely hydroycinnamates, have been reported in the pulp of dragon fruit.

The total phenolic contents of flesh (42.4 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g of flesh fresh weight and peel (39.7 mg of GAE/100 g of peel fresh weight) of dragon fruit were similar.

The flavonoid contents of flesh and peel did not vary much (7.21 mg vs. 8.33 mg of catechin equivalents/100 g of flesh and peel matters).

The betacyanin content in red-fleshed dragon fruit juice is 525.3 mg/L, while betaxanthins of 5.3 mg/L has been reported in the juice of fed-flesh dragon fruit. Betacyanin protect against oxidative stress-related disorders.
Antioxidants content in dragon fruit 

Flavonoids in fruit

The term flavonoid denotes a large group of chemical compounds. Flavonoids contain a C6-C3-C6 carbon skeleton with sugar moity (in glucosides).

There are indications that flavonoids have a useful protective action, in particular against some respiratory disease. It also has been implicated that a high intake of flavonoids reduces the risk of cancer.

The greatest contributors of flavonoids in human diets are fruits and vegetables with fruit juice, green tea, and dark chocolate being the richest sources in western diets. 

They are four main types of flavonoids in fruit:
Flavonol 
For example quercetin glycosides in apple, plum and grape. The consumption of flavonoids has been estimated to average 190 mg/day in the US mostly as flavonols.

Anthocyanins 
Red and blue pigments such as cyaniding and delphinidin and their glycosides

Flavones
Luteolin in lemon peel

Flavanones
For example, hesperidins in oranges and naringin in grapefruit. The cloudiness of juice and marmalade made from oranges is due to precipitation of hesperidins, which is less soluble in water. Naringin has a bitter taste and is soluble in water, some fresh grapefruits and pumelos taste slightly bitter.
Flavonoids in fruit