Orange Juice and Its Impact on Cancer Development - A Brief Analysis
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Despite the media hype surrounding orange juice and the absurd results of epidemiological studies suggesting a positive correlation between orange juice consumption and the occurrence of certain types of cancer (source), empirical data seems to contradict these pseudoscientific claims. Citrus juices are a biological flavonoid bomb, containing dozens of bioactive substances. At least a few of them exhibit clear anticancer properties, such as hesperidin (s), naringin (s), terpenes (s), limonoids (s), phenolic acids (s), the intact (sic!) form of vitamin C, and citrus fiber (s). While commercial orange juice may pose a problem (due to the pasteurization process, as ascorbic acid can be converted into furans, which have pro-oncogenic properties), and the lack of fiber and structural breakdown of certain phenolic compounds, as well as the origin of the orange, the statement that it contributes to cancer is at least an exaggeration. Despite pasteurization, the juice retains many of the phenolic compounds, and it exhibits many prometabolic properties, such as lowering triglyceride, VLDL, and LDL levels (source). I believe that the juice is not the ideal solution — fruit fiber has a wide range of health benefits that cannot be explained solely by the presence of other bioactive compounds. However, the juice is a very valuable source of micronutrients and carbohydrates. Personally, I consume orange juice periodically, i.e., I split it into 4 glasses or eat the equivalent of 10 oranges alternately. The exception to this is my pre-workout, which consists of baking soda (or calcium carbonate) and a liter of juice. The argument that orange juice and fruit sugar could increase IGF-1 is quite understandable and has excellent empirical inclinations, but IGF-1 should not be viewed as inherently bad. IGF-1 indeed increases after the consumption of carbohydrates or proteins in general. IGF-1 is not harmful as such when released sharply. On the other hand, chronically elevated IGF-1 is a completely different matter.
Below is a study reporting the effects of orange juice and its extract on the development of cancer cells:
Orange juice (OJ) is one of the most consumed among other CF juices worldwide, and even one of the most studied regarding its health benefits. Indeed, it is well known its antioxidant property that is due to its content of both Vitamin C and flavonoids (Constans et al., 2015). In this regard, recently we studied the antioxidant activity of an extract from orange juice (OJe) rich in flavonoids in both cell-free and cell-based experimental models. In particular, we showed its capbility of preventing oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in human lung epithelial A549 cells, diminishing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and membrane lipid peroxidation, as well as enhancing mitochondrial functionality and averting DNA-oxidative damage (Ferlazzo et al., 2015). Moreover, we demonstrated the iron-chelating activity exerted by OJe in Fe2SO4-exposed A549 cells and its induction of the antioxidant catalase, thus stopping oxidative injury induced by iron (Ferlazzo et al., 2016c). We further studied the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of OJe through an animal model resembling colitis (Fusco et al., 2017) in which it counteracted cytokine generation, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) activation, nitrotyrosine and poly ADP-ribose (PAR) formation, as well as enhanced myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, increased manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression and modulated both pro- and anti-apoptotic factors. Finally, it has been demonstrated that both OJ and OJe are capable of reducing cardiovascular risks (Buscemi et al., 2012) and exert anti-epileptic effect (Citraro et al., 2016).
