"That was such a good orange."

As I noted in earlier posts as well as my most recent food log, oranges are a great snack that are becoming increasingly more popular around campus. My only assumption as to why I’ve started seeing everyone eating oranges is that they have been put out ‘to take’ in dining halls around campus. People also associate oranges with warm weather and now that it’s nice out on a consistent basis, the number of oranges consumed by students are going up. If you didn’t already know oranges are a great source of mainly vitamin C, which, “Helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the blood” (Orange Fruit Nutrition Facts). Of course this is what orange sellers all over the world constantly advertise about, but what most people don’t know is that oranges also contain a good amount of potassium, which plays an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure through countering sodium actions as well as calcium (Orange Fruit Nutrition Facts). Being lactose intolerant I need to find other ways than milk to get my sufficient amount of calcium. By no means does orange juice replace milk but it’s important to have some form of calcium in my diet. As a university I would also put out fresh fruit to try to promote healthy eating around campus. I might even consider the same approach the DU currently takes now by placing apples, oranges, and bananas in separate bins, but is there a better way?

            A three-person team of doctors examined if slicing a fruit such as apples or oranges has an impact on how much of the fruit was eaten. The study states, “Slicing increased the percentage of children selecting and consuming oranges, while a similar effect was not found for apples. The impact of slicing fruit was greatest among younger students” (Swanson, Branscum, Nakayima). How could these results be? Apples and oranges are both fruit. Does it have something to do with how appetizing the fruit looks when sliced rather than whole? It has to. For instance, when an apple is sliced, it looks plain, sometimes there is texture that you can see but it just looks like an apple. You have no idea the quality apple it is when it’s sliced, but if you see a big brown bruise on an apple you know what lies beneath the skin. There are no characteristics of apples that would give someone a heads up to knowing that it’s a particularly good apple when it’s sliced.  Oranges on the other hand are the opposite. A somewhat bruised orange could be the sweetest one you’ve ever tasted because the orange peel protects the inner fruit.

            I highly doubt that DU will start slicing their oranges because no one has ever told them that it might be a good idea, but if they do have some secret plan to alter the way we eat in a positive way then slicing oranges just may be the way to go.

Works Cited

Swanson, Mark, Adam Branscum, and Peace Julie Nakayima. "Promoting Consumption of Fruit in Elementary School Cafeterias. the Effects of Slicing Apples and Oranges." Appetite 53.2 (2009): 264-7. Print.

"Orange Fruit Nutrition Facts." Www.nutrition-and-you.com. Web. 15 May 2012. <http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/orange-fruit.html>