Skip to content

Orange

The orange is a fruit whose peel and juice are used to make medicine. Orange peel is used to stimulate the appetite, reduce phlegm formation and treat coughs, colds, flatulence, indigestion and cancerous breast ulcers. Orange peel is also used as a tonic. Orange juice is used to treat kidney stones and high cholesterol levels, as well as to prevent high blood pressure, strokes and prostate cancer.

How do orange products work?

Oranges contain large amounts of vitamin C. Some scientists believe that orange products may help with asthma due to the antioxidant properties of vitamin C.

Oranges also contain large amounts of potassium. There is evidence that potassium may help prevent high blood pressure and strokes.

Oranges and orange juice are used to prevent kidney stones because they contain large amounts of a chemical called citrate. Citrate tends to bind calcium before it can form kidney stones.

How effective are orange products?

Orange products may be effective in the following areas:

  • Preventing high blood pressure and strokes: Consuming orange juice appears to help lower the risk of high blood pressure and strokes. In America, products that contain at least 350 mg of potassium per serving and are low in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol may be advertised as reducing the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
  • Treating high cholesterol: Consuming orange juice helps to improve cholesterol levels. In large quantities of 750 ml or more per day for 4 weeks, orange juice appears to increase the levels of good HDL cholesterol and improve the ratio of bad LDL cholesterol to good HDL cholesterol in people with high cholesterol levels.

Orange products may be ineffective when used to prevent prostate cancer.

There is not enough scientific data to make a statement about the effectiveness of orange products in the following applications:

  • Asthma: There is evidence that oranges and other fruits rich in vitamin C may improve lung function in people suffering from asthma. However, not all studies agree on this.
  • Colds: Some studies show that consuming 180 ml of orange juice per day could help prevent cold symptoms.
  • Kidney stones: Some studies report that drinking 400 ml of orange juice increases the amount of citrate in the urine. This could help prevent kidney stones, which are made up of calcium.

There is also a lack of scientific information on the effectiveness of orange products on coughs, eating disorders and cancerous breast tumors.

More scientific research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of orange products in these applications.

Safety and side effects

Orange products appear to be safe and harmless for most adults.

For children, consuming large amounts of orange peel is not safe and harmless. Colic, convulsions and death may occur.

Precautions and warnings

Pregnancy and lactation: Orange products appear to be safe when consumed in normal amounts.

Interactions

Orange products should not be combined with the following medications:

Celiprolol

Consuming large amounts of orange juice could reduce the amount of celiprolol absorbed by the body. This could reduce the effect of celiprolol. For this reason, you should not consume large amounts of orange juice when taking celiprolol.

Care should be taken when combining orange products with the following medications:

Antibiotics (quinolone antibiotics)

Calcium-enriched orange juice can reduce the amount of certain antibiotics absorbed by the body. Reducing the absorption of an antibiotic can reduce its ability to fight infection. Orange juice without added calcium is unlikely to affect the effectiveness of quinolone antibiotics.

Fexofenadine

Orange products may reduce the amount of fexofenadine absorbed by the body. Consuming orange products in combination with fexofenadine could reduce the effect of fexofenadine.

Drugs that are transported into the cells by pumps (P-glycoprotein substrates)

Some drugs are transported into the cells by pumps. Orange products may alter the way these pumps work and the amounts of certain drugs that are absorbed by the body. There is not enough information to say how important this interaction is. Until more is known, caution should be exercised when combining orange products with drugs that are transported into cells by pumps.

Dosage

The following doses have been studied in scientific research: Oral:

  • For high cholesterol levels: 750 ml of orange juice per day
  • To prevent high blood pressure and strokes: Orange products that contain at least 350 mg of potassium per day and are low in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol may be advertised in America as being able to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and strokes.

References

  1. Bailey DG, Dresser GK, Munoz C, et al. Reduction of fexofenadine bioavailability by fruit juices. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2001;69:P21.
  2. Bailey DG. Fruit juice inhibition of uptake transport: a new type of food-drug interaction. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2010;70:645-55. view abstract.
  3. Baird IM, Hughes RE, Wilson HK, et al. The effects of ascorbic acid and flavonoids on the occurrence of symptoms normally associated with the common cold. Am J Clin Nutr 1979;32:1686-90. view abstract.
  4. Butland BK, Fehily AM, Elwood PC. Diet, lung function, and lung function decline in a cohort of 2512 middle aged men. Thorax 2000;55:102-8. view abstract.
  5. Carey IM, Strachan DP, Cook DG. Effects of changes in fresh fruit consumption on ventilatory function in healthy British adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998;158:728-33. view abstract.
  6. FDA, CFSAN. FDA-approved potassium health claim notification for potassium containing foods. 2000. available at: www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclm-k.html.
  7. Forastiere F, Pistelli R, Sestini P, et al. Consumption of fresh fruit rich in vitamin C and wheezing symptoms in children. Thorax 2000;55:283-8. View abstract.
  8. Franke AA, Cooney RV, Henning SM, Custer LJ. Bioavailability and antioxidant effects of orange juice components in humans. J Agric Food Chem 2005;53:5170-8. View abstract.
  9. Greenblatt DJ. Analysis of drug interactions involving fruit beverages and organic anion-transporting polypeptides. J Clin Pharmacol 2009;49:1403-7. view abstract.
  10. Grossarth-Matichek R, Kiene H, Baumgartner SM, Ziegler R. Use of Iscador, an extract of European mistletoe (Viscum album), in cancer treatment: prospective nonrandomized and randomized matched-pair studies nested within a cohort study. Altern Ther Health Med 2001;7:57-66, 68-72, 74-6 passim. View abstract.
  11. Hatch GE. Asthma, inhaled oxidants, and dietary antioxidants. Am J Clin Nutr 1995;61:625S-30S. View abstract.
  12. Huang SM, Lesko LJ. Drug-drug, drug-dietary supplement, and drug-citrus fruit and other food interactions: what have we learned? J Clin Pharmacol 2004;44:559-69. view abstract.
  13. Ishiwa J, Sato T, Mimaki Y, et al. A citrus flavonoid, nobiletin, suppresses production and gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9/gelatinase B in rabbit synovial fibroblasts. J Rheumatol 2000;27:20-5. View abstract.
  14. Kamath AV, Yao M, Zhang Y, Chong S. Effect of fruit juices on the oral bioavailability of fexofenadine in rats. J Pharm Sci 2005;94:233-9. view abstract.
  15. Koitabashi Y, Kumai T, Matsumoto N, et al. Orange juice increased the bioavailability of pravastatin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase inhibitor, in rats and healthy human subjects. Life Sci 2006;78:2852-9. view abstract.
  16. Kurowska EM, Spence JD, Jordan J, et al. HDL-cholesterol-raising effect of orange juice in subjects with hypercholesterolemia. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;72:1095-100. view abstract.
  17. Lilja JJ, Juntti-Patinen L, Neuvonen PJ. Orange juice substantially reduces the bioavailability of the beta-adrenergic-blocking agent celiprolol. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2004;75:184-90. view abstract.
  18. Moufida S, Marzouk B. Biochemical characterization of blood orange, sweet orange, lemon, bergamot and bitter orange. Phytochemistry 2003;62:1283-9. View abstract.
  19. Odvina CV. Comparative value of orange juice versus lemonade in reducing stone-forming risk. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2006;1:1269-74.
  20. Ramos-e-Silva M, da Silva Carneiro SC. Elderly skin and its rejuvenation: products and procedures for the aging skin. J Cosmet Dermatol 2007;6:40-50. view abstract.
  21. Schwartz J, Weiss ST. Relationship between dietary vitamin C intake and pulmonary function in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). Am J Clin Nutr 1994;59:110-4. view abstract.
  22. Seltzer MA, Low RK, McDonald M, et al. Dietary manipulation with lemonade to treat hypocitraturic calcium nephrolithiasis. J Urol 1996;156:907-9. view abstract.
  23. Stram DO, Hankin JH, Wilkens LR, et al. Prostate cancer incidence and intake of fruits, vegetables and related micronutrients: the multiethnic cohort study. Cancer Causes Control 2006;17:1193-207. view abstract.
  24. Takanaga H, Ohnishi A, Yamada S, et al. Polymethoxylated flavones in orange juice are inhibitors of P-glycoprotein but not cytochrome P450 3A4. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2000;293:230-6. View abstract.
  25. Tian R, Koyabu N, Takanaga H, et al. Effects of grapefruit juice and orange juice on the intestinal efflux of P-glycoprotein substrates. Pharm Res 2002;19:802-9. View abstract.
  26. Troisi RJ, Willett WC, Weiss ST, et al. A prospective study of diet and adult-onset asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1995;151:1401-8. view abstract.
  27. Vanapalli SR, Chen Y, Ellingrod VL, et al. Orange juice decreases the oral bioavailability of ivermectin in health volunteers. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2003;73 (Abstract PDII-A-10):P94.