There is nothing quite like a fresh orange juice or fresh grapefruit juice at breakfast time on a nice summers day or a nice lemon and apple juice warmed up on a winters night with a little honey. In fact these juices can be so delicious we might forgot that they are extremely good for us! So here are some of the wonderful health benefits of juicing citrus fruits.

1) Citrus fruits, and especially oranges, are almost synonymous with vitamin C and of course all citrus fruits are indeed a great source of this vitamin. The many important health providing functions of vitamin C are way too numerous to cover here, so here is vitamin C’s most well known benefit! Vitamin C is one of the most important vitamins for the healthy functioning of the immune system. Vitamin C helps to create more than a half of the white blood cells in our bodies that protect us from viruses such as cold, flu and other kinds of infections.

2) Vitamin A is another important member of the immune system that  is present in some citrus fruits. Oranges, tangerines, mandarins and pink grapefruits are especially good sources of beta-carotene (pro-vitamin A) because beta-carotene is also a plant pigment that puts the orange hue in fruits and vegetables.

3) Citrus fruits are loaded with bio-flavonoids and this is one of the most potent health benefits of juicing. Bio-flavonoids are very powerful antioxidants that help to protects our cells from the oxidative damage created by free radicals. Such damage can lead to cancer, heart disease, premature aging, other degenerative disease and an impaired immune system.

However, the majority of these bio-flavonoids are found in the pith of citrus fruits rather than the flesh. The pith is the white membranes between the skin and the main flesh of the fruit. So it is a good idea to try and put as much of the pith as you can through your juicing machine along with the flesh to greatly enhance the overall nutritional profile of your citrus juice recipes.