Ingredient Information

Function

Orange juice is the most commonly consumed fruit juice in America. It is a beverage made from the juice extruded from a squeezed orange. It is most commonly a breakfast drink but can also be used to make punches or cocktails for evening consumption.

Other Use and Industries

Orange juice can also be used in cooking. It is a common ingredient in cakes, braises, and jellies.

Health Effects

Although orange juice still has a great amount of vitamin C, juice squeezed and stored for more than 24 hours loses 20% of its vitamin C content. Frozen, bottled, and concentrated orange juices have significantly less than fresh squeezed because of the intense processes that they undergo. Canned juice has the highest residual vitamin C content other than fresh squeezed, but it loses much of its flavor after 12 weeks at room temperature. Vitamin C content is important an important part of the daily diet because it is good for forming collagen, which is a vital substance that helps support strong bones, teeth, skin, and blood vessels. It also helps with healing wounds. High doses of vitamin C have also been used for the treatment of many diseases including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and the common cold. Most of these studies are rather young and have not yet been proven. In regards to the cardiovascular system, vitamin C has been found to improve diastolic blood pressure and decrease bad cholesterol levels. According to a study published in “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” orange juice contains hesperidin, a healthy water soluble plant pigment. This pigment improves the activity of small blood vessels and blood pressure while and decrease the cardiovascular risk in susceptible patients. Also, regular consumption of orange juice may also lead to a decrease in LDL cholesterol in patients who exhibit high cholesterol levels.

Origins

Orange juice is made by squeezing oranges until all of the juice is removed. The remaining juice can then be strained to form the different categories of pulp concentration. Low pulp or no pulp is made by straining the juice so that the pulp is removed. Some varieties have extra pulp added back to make “lots of pulp." There are two types of orange juice available on the market “not from concentrate” or ready-to-drink and concentrated. Orange juice that is labeled as “not from concentrate” is juice that has been concentrated and then pasteurized and then water is added back. A flavor pack is added in the final step, right before packaging for stores, to give the juice flavor. Ironically, “not from concentrate juice” is actually more processed than the concentrated variety. Both processes, at one point, turn the fresh juice into a brown sludge that has no remaining flavor until the flavor pack is added at the end. The process for producing concentrated orange juice is almost identical to that of “not from concentrate” except that water is not added back to the final product. The main difference is that concentrated orange juice is much easier to store, ship, and house in store than “not from concentrate”. This is the key contributing factor to the fact that concentrated orange juice is so much cheaper. Canned orange juice is also available.