Clementine juice is juice made from the clementine orange (scientific name: Citrus clementina). The clementine orange is not a real orange, but an orange and mandarin hybrid. Clementine juice is an extremely healthy fruit juice to consider adding to your diet. In addition to immediate benefits such as tonic properties and an energizing effect, clementine juice also reduces risks of cataract and has anti-inflammatory and anticancer benefits.
What are clementines?
Clementines are just one of the many types of oranges. Colloquially, clementines are called ‘clementine oranges’ or ‘clementine mandarins’ when, in fact, they’re not real oranges, or real mandarins. Clementines are actually a cross between the sweet orange and the mandarin, or mandarine. They are a type of tangor which is a class of mandarin and sweet orange hybrids.
In full season in winter, clementines are a good fruit to eat raw and juice because they come in seedless varieties, peel easily, and are less acidic than sweet oranges.
What is Clementine Juice Good for?
Clementine juice has both immediate, almost instant benefits for health, and long-term benefits. It’s good for dehydration and low blood sugar, helps combat fatigue and advances eye health, with lower risks for loss of vision due to cataract and age-related macular degeneration.
Clementine juice for dehydration
One of the biggest benefits of clementine juice is it’s rehydrating. Clementine juice is mostly water, with good amounts dietary minerals with electrolyte properties such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. Drinking clementine juice actively combats dehydration by restoring normal fluid levels and electrolyte levels.
Dehydration causes high blood pressure and high heart rate, palpitations, dizziness, headaches, fainting and tiredness. Dehydration also affects skin, causing skin to tighten and look older, and wrinkles to become more visible.
Good for restoring vitality after donating blood
Clementine juice helps restore normal blood volume after blood donation, and exerts tonic effects owed to a generous content of fast-absorbed natural sugars and a good content of electrolytes such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. Clementine juice is also sweet and a little tart, a taste that is invigorating and refreshing and perks you up in minutes. Good amounts of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B9 in clementine juice also further restore vitality.
Good for low blood sugar
If you have hypoglycemia, then there’s nothing better to drink than fruit juice to bring your blood sugar levels back up to normal in a matter of minutes. Clementine juice is a rich source of natural sugars that get absorbed into the bloodstream almost instantly and correct low blood sugar levels. Drinking the juice can help prevent dizziness and fainting, stop shaking and bring down abnormally high heart rate caused by low blood sugar.
Helps lower risks of cataract
One of the long-term benefits of drinking clementine juice, and eating clementines, is a lower risk of cataract. Lutein and zeaxanthin from clementines, juice and fruit, get deposited in the retina and macula lutea areas of the human eye, and account for up to 80% of all carotenoids physically present in the retina (source).
Studies show both lutein and zeaxanthin protect vision and advance eye health, lowering risks of developing cataract (source 1, source 2). A serving of 100 g of clementine fruit provides 138 mcg of lutein and zeaxanthin, while the juice has three to four times more lutein and zeaxanthin. Yellow watermelon as well as varieties of yellow carrots are also good sources of lutein and zeaxanthin.
Helps maintain good vision into old age
Studies show eating yellow and orange foods that contain the pigmented carotenoid antioxidants lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin protects vision well into old age. Studies show carotenoid antioxidants from food get deposited in the retina and macula lutea areas of the human eye, protecting the physical integrity of the eyes and advancing eye health and visual acuity.
Moreover, studies show that foods that naturally contain the pigmented antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin can help reduce risks of age-related macular degeneration causing loss of vision, as well as halt its progression to advanced forms (source). Clementine juice and clementine oranges both contain all of these antioxidants.
Source of anti-inflammatory benefits
Freshly made clementine juice is rich in vitamin C which has been scientifically proven to reduce levels of inflammatory markers in the body such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin 6 (IL-6) (source). Moreover, research shows vitamin C protects cells in the aftermath of inflammatory responses (source) and directly scavenges superoxide (source), an inflammatory free radical with mutagenic potential.
Clementine juice further contains a flavonone called hesperidin which studies show exerts anti-inflammatory effects (source). Hesperidin is also found in the spongy white part of citrus fruit called albedo or pith.
Anticancer properties
Clementine juice contains vitamin C and the flavonoid antioxidant hesperidin and its aglycone, hesperetin. Studies show vitamin C targets many of the mechanisms that cancer cells utilize for their survival and growth (source), modulating the immune system and inflammatory and apoptotic responses against cancer cell growth.
The reported anticancer effects of hesperidin have been found to be associated with its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, inhibiting tumor cell metastasis, angiogenesis, and chemoresistance (source).
Good for fertility – improves pregnancy outcomes
Anyone looking to boost their fertility should look to certain essential vitamins and minerals, including, but not limited to: zinc, selenium, manganese, vitamin D and vitamin C. Clementine juice is a great source of vitamin C with benefits for fertility. Vitamin C has been found to improve low progesterone levels when consumed in high doses over a period of at least 6 months. Progesterone is a female hormone that both increases pregnancy rates and improves pregnancy outcomes.
Benefits for anemia – helps you better absorb iron
Fresh clementine juice is naturally high in vitamin C which makes it good for anemia. Vitamin C improves absorption of iron, essentially helping the body better assimilate the mineral. So while clementine juice doesn’t have too much iron itself, it has lots of vitamin C to boost the absorption of iron from other foods.
Vitamin C is especially good for boosting absorption of non-heme iron, one of the two main types of iron found in plant foods. Non-heme iron from plant foods has low bioavailability and is absorbed more poorly than heme iron from animal foods. Drinking a glass of fresh clementine juice is great after a meal to increase your absorption of iron and combat anemia.
Restores vitality
If you’re tired, instead of drinking coffee which is stimulating, but not actually energizing, you can drink a nice glass of fresh clementine juice. Clementine juice contains a range of B vitamins to support energy metabolism and restore vitality, as well as natural sugars for an almost instant energy boost.
Good for high blood pressure
What makes clementine juice good for high blood pressure is its generous content of dietary potassium. Potassium relieves pressure in blood vessels, actively contributing to lowering blood pressure numbers, as well as balanced levels of other electrolytes in blood plasma, further contributing to benefits for blood pressure.
How much potassium in clementine juice? A glass of clementine juice can provide 10% of the recommended daily intake of potassium. The average adult needs up to 4700 mg of potassium every single day.
Clementine juice is further good for blood pressure and cardiovascular health thanks to a good content of magnesium which lowers blood pressure and regulates heart rate, and vitamin B6 which supports the health of the heart muscle.
Clementine juice for pregnant women
While fruit juices should be consumed with restraint, especially in pregnancy, that doesn’t mean they are not good for pregnant women. Clementine juice is good during pregnancy because of its content of vitamin B9 or folate. The water-soluble B vitamin is vital for the normal development of the baby in the womb, and is proven to reduce defects of the brain, spine and spinal cord in babies during pregnancy.
Good for nausea and vomiting
If you are experiencing nausea and vomiting, then clementine juice might just be the solution for you. The organic acids occurring naturally in the juice (e.g. citric acid) actively combat nausea and vomiting. The vitamin C in clementine juice can help restore appetite and encourage eating and drinking.
The juice itself is mostly water so it rehydrates as well as combats the side effects of dehydration caused by vomiting. Also, the natural sugars in clementine juice have a revitalizing effect and can help perk you up even if you haven’t eaten anything by raising blood sugar levels. You can add some grated ginger or a few crushed peppermint leaves to your clementine juice for additional anti-nausea benefits.
Good for skin
Drinking fresh clementine juice provides more than generous amounts of vitamin C which boosts production of collagen in the skin for better skin elasticity and anti-aging benefits. In addition to anti-aging, anti-wrinkle effects, vitamin C in clementine juice accelerates wound healing. The juice itself if hydrating which is also good for skin, helping it retain a fresh and plump appearance. Just remember that vitamin C is sensitive to light, air (oxygen) and heat so make sure you drink the juice as soon as you make it.