Tangerine is one of the related varieties of oranges. This citrus orange, which has botanical name  Citrus tangerina is widely known for its close relation to mandarin orange. The name of tangerines comes from Tangier, Morocco. But, this fruit is originated in South Eastern forests of China and nowadays, it is widely grown in most part of the world.
As any other fruits, tangerines contain a lot of nutrients that would be beneficial for the health of our body. First, let’s see the nutrients that contained in this fruit.
Nutrition Facts About Tangerines
Nutritional value per 100 gram
|
Energy |
223 kJ (53 kcal) |
| Carbohydrates |
13,34 grams |
|
Sugars |
10.58 grams |
| Dietary Fiber |
1.8 grams |
|
Fat |
0.31 grams |
| Protein |
0.81 grams |
|
Vitamins |
|
| Vitamin A |
34 µg (4%) |
|
beta-carotene |
155µg (1%) |
| Thiamine (B1) |
0.058 mg (5%) |
|
Riboflavin (B2) |
0.036 mg (3%) |
| Niacin (B3) |
0.376 mg (3%) |
|
Pantothenic acid (B5) |
0.216 mg (4%) |
| Vitamin B6 |
0.078 mg (6%) |
|
Folate (B9) |
16 µg (4%) |
| Choline |
10.2 mg (2%) |
|
Vitamin C |
26.7 mg (32%) |
| Vitamin E |
0.2 mg (1%) |
|
Minerals |
|
| Calcium |
37 mg (4%) |
|
Iron |
0.15 mg (1%) |
| Magnesium |
12 mg (3%) |
|
Manganese |
0.039 mg (2%) |
| Phosporus |
20 mg (3%) |
|
Potassium |
166 mg (4%) |
| Sodium |
2 mg (0%) |
|
Zinc |
0.07 mg (1%) |
From all of those nutrients, we bet that you already know that this fruit has tons of greatness for your health. Here are the health benefits that your body could get if you start to consume tangerines.
- Smooth Skin
Tangerines contain a rich source of Vitamin C which you all know can stimulate the release of antioxidant. Antioxidant is beneficial to fight against various free radicals and as the result you will be most likely to avoid from any cancers, including skin cancer. In addition to that, Vitamin C in tangerines could stimulate the release of collagen and elastin in your skin. This collagen is really essential to make your skin become smooth and of course, it will make you looks younger than your age.
- Anti-Aging Skin
Do you have any skin problems like acne or pimple that affects your confidence? Tangerines offer you the solution of your problem since it contains a high amount of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is very beneficial for your skin because this vitamin can stimulate your skin tissues to rebuild. In addition to that, Vitamin A in tangerines has anti-aging properties which are essential to protect you from various skin problems like wrinkles, fine line, and dull skin. So, if you want to look younger than your age, consume tangerines.
- Enhance Your Smile
There is a research conducted at the State University of New York at Buffalo that people who are not consuming Vitamin C on a daily basis will be more likely to suffer from gingivitis up to 25 percent compared with people who consume Vitamin C constantly. Gingivitis is a problem related to your teeth. When you are brushing your teeth and you found blood in your teeth because of red gums, then it means that you are suffering from gingivitis. Consume tangerines will protect you from this problem because of its high amount of Vitamin C, that enables you to show your best smile to other people.
- Good For Your Eyes’ Health
Tangerines could help you to prevent yourself from a disease called Age-Related Macular Degeneration and cataracts. For your info, there is a study in America that Age-Related Macular Degeneration is the main cause of vision loss in men who are older than 60. The Vitamin C and Vitamin A that contained in tangerines will prevent you from this disease and keep your vision sharp.
- Strengthen Your Bones
There is a study conducted at Tuft University on men which resulted that men who are consumed high amount of Vitamin C and Potassium had a better density on their bones compared with the men who didn’t consume Vitamin C and Potassium regularly. So, if you want to add some Vitamin C and Potassium in your body, tangerine is the perfect choice.
- Help Your Body to Absorb Iron
Iron is one of the most important nutrients in your body. If your body doesn’t have a proper amount of iron, you will feel so tired and sluggish easily, even if you just sit down on your couch. Also, lack of iron will make a dark circles appear just under your eyes, which will affect your appearance. So, eating tangerine which is a perfect source of Vitamin C will help to protect you from those problems because Vitamin C, if syncs up with dietary iron, will enable your body to absorb iron easily.
- Prevent Diabetes
Some researchers from the University of Western Ontario evidence that tangerines is also the perfect source of flavonoid compounds called nobiletin. This component will encourage your body to burn the fat and prevent the manufacture process of fat. Thus, you will be more likely to avoid the disease caused by fat in your body like diabetes type 2.
- Prevent Stroke
As already mentioned above, tangerines contain a rich amount of potassium. This potassium could prevent you from disease associated with stroke like  blood clotting. There is a study conducted by Nurse’s Healthy Study on more than 69 thousand people. The result is, people who consume tangerines had 19 percent lower risk of having the disease associated with stroke like blood clotting.
- Protect You From Obesity
If you want to reduce your body weight and have a diet, eating tangerines is one of the best choices because this fruit, as the other fruit does, contains a high amount of fiber. In addition to that, tangerines contain vitamins that will prevent the production of cortisol, which is a hormone that can cause the stress and can encourage your body to store the fat. So, from now, includes tangerines as one the fruits for your healthy diet.
- Prevent Cancer
Tangerines contain a compound called limonoids. According to some researchers in Korea, this limonoids compound might prevent the spread of leukemia and breast cancer. But, please do notice that this research was conducted in an animal and still not yet discovered whether it will work as the same result in the human or not.
- Shaping Your Muscles
As already mentioned above, tangerines is one of the fruits that contain high amount of potassium. This potassium compound is proven to be beneficial for your muscles as it would encourage the growth and the recovery in your muscles. So, this fruit would be a great friend for everyone of you who loves sport activities.
- Healthier Digestive System
Do you know that one tangerine fruit has the same amount of water compared with 3-4 ounces of mineral water? Well, tangerine is also one of the most juiciest fruits. This high amount of water together with the Vitamin A from tangerines would be beneficial to encourage the absorption of nutrients from the food that you just ate and keep digestive tract hydrated.
- Strengthen Your Immune System
The vitamin C that contained in tangerines will also improve your immune system. By consuming tangerines, you will be less likely to have various diseases such as cold, influenza, fever, and other symptoms. So if you want to stay healthy all the time, consuming tangerine is the best way to achieve it.
- Boost Your Mood
According to Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic, tangerines have a link to boost your overall mood. The scent of tangerines can heal you from the feeling of stress, depression, and anxiety. So, if you are having a bad day, you are suggested to smell the aroma of tangerines and as the result, you will feel more relaxed than before.
- Moisturize Your Hair
After you take a bath, sometimes you feel that your hair is too greasy. The problem that can cause the greasy in your hair is the water that you use during taking a bath. Tangerines contain Vitamin A that can moisturize the sebum in the scalp and also, it will fight against pollution that can make your hair become weaker than before.
- Delays Hair Greying
If you want to have hair that stay with its color until you’re getting old, start consuming tangerines. Tangerines contain a high amount of Vitamin B12, which promotes hair growth and also reducing the possibilities of hair loss. Vitamin B12 is also very important to slow down the greying process of your hair.
- Get a Shiny Hair
Tangerines also could be beneficial to help you to get glowing hair because of its Vitamin C compounds. Vitamin C can help your body to absorb iron, which enable your body and hair to get more nutrients. As the result, you will have a glowing and shiny hair so that you will be more confident to meet people around you.
- Anti-Spasm
Well, spasm is not a good sign for your body. If you think that spasm is only related to cramps in your muscles, you’re wrong. It can happen in your digestive system, respiratory system, and nervous system that can cause asthma, congestion, and coughs. Tangerines, if you use it as an essential oil, will give the relaxation among organic systems named above and prevent your body from spasm.
- It is an Antiseptic
It is revealed that tangerines, if you use it as an essential oil and applied it externally, will kill the bacteria namely Straphyloccocus Aureus which is responsible for many infections that occurs in your wound and can make your pain more acute as it will spread the infections to the other parts of your body. Just rub it on your wound and these bacteria would be killed.
- Remove Toxic in the Body
It is also revealed that tangerines can get rid of toxins in your body. When you consume tangerine, it will act as depurative which will help you to purify your blood. This fruit is also will encourage the excretion of the toxic or other unwanted substance like uric acid or pollutant through a sweat or urine.
Tips on How to Pick Tangerines and Store Them
As a fruit with a lot of greatness for your body, it is very essential to pick tangerines and store it properly. If you’ve not stored it properly, you will be most likely to lose the greatness of tangerines. So, here are some tips to store your tangerines, so that the greatness of tangerines could be fully applied to your body.
- When you want to buy it, firstly you need to pick tangerine which has a heavy weight because the heavy tangerines contain a lot amount of water and juicier than the light ones. Also, make sure that their peels are free from blemishes and have an orange or red color.
- Rinse the tangerines under the cold water and dry them afterwards with a towel. Please keep this fruit out of the direct sunlight if you don’t want to lose its nutrients.
- If you don’t want to consume the tangerines in the same day and want to keep it for the next day, be sure that you refrigerate them. But, please remember that although you are already refrigerate them, you should consume tangerines up to seven days after you purchase it.
Consumption Tips on Tangerines
Here are some tips on consuming tangerines, so you will enjoy your moment while consumes it and the most important thing is, you will get the full benefits that the tangerines offer to your body.
- As one of the most juiciest and delicious fruits, you can eat tangerines directly right after you purchase it.
- You can cut the tangerines into pieces and add those pieces in a cup of your morning cereal or your healthy salad.
- Tangerine juice is also refreshing and offers you the full benefits for your body.
- You can use the tangerine juice as a flavor by pouring it into your noodles, pasta, or chicken.
- You could use the peels of tangerines as an essential oil since tangerine essential oil, if you applied it externally, would be beneficial as antiseptic.
Tangerines Warnings and Precautions
Although tangerines contain a lot of greatness for your body, but there are also some cautions and side effect that you might need to consider before you consume it. Here are the warnings and cautions related to tangerines:
- Still Unknown for Pregnant Women
There is a doubt whether tangerines could be beneficial for pregnant women or will cause a lot of symptoms that leads to pregnancy problems due to its lack of scientific evidence. So, for your baby’s safety, it is wise to not consume it when you’re getting pregnant.
- Allergies
There are some people who have a hypersensitivity from tangerines. The people who have allergies to tangerines will have various problems such as skin rash.
- Gastro-internal Problems
If you have some problems with disease associated with gastro-internal, you should avoid consuming it since tangerine could be harmful for your intestinal. Tangerine is widely known for its intestinal obstruction ability.
Now you already know that tangerines offer you a lot of goodness for your body. Since it has a great taste and contain a lot amount of water, you should try this fruit and let this fruit protect you from any diseases that could attack you at any time.