A nutritionist and health expert, Olusola Malomo, has revealed that regular intake of orange fruit juice can aid the immune system to combat the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
Malomo, who is also the Publicity Secretary of Nutrition Society of Nigeria in his monthly health dialogue, an initiative supported by CHI Limited, Monday said fruit juice contains the vital micronutrients needed to boost immunity.
He noted that, although there were still relatively few studies on the effect of nutrition on the human immune system, Harvard Medical School said deficiency in Zinc, Iron, Copper, Folic Acid, Vitamins A, B6, C (contained in large quantity in fruit juice) and E have negative impacts on immune responses.
According to him, there has been sharp increase in the demand for pure fruit juice, especially the orange category, which he said could be attributed to the immune-boosting power of orange juice.
“Peter McCaffery, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Aberdeen, said Vitamin C, contained in orange juice helps to strengthen the immune system to fight off bacteria and virus infections like the one the world is currently grappling with,” he stated.
Malomo said the shopping lists of households across different parts of the world, including Nigeria, have revealed remarkable changes with CNN reporting that the United States retail sales of orange juice jumped about 38 per cent in the four weeks ending on March 28, 2020, when compared to the same period last year.
Streamlining it to Nigeria, he said there has been surplus demand for pure fruit juice in the country, pointing out that “during the five weeks the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun were on lockdown, shops and supermarkets had run out of orange fruit juice.”
According to him, there are several other things one can do to achieve this, which include adequate sleep, thorough cooking of meat, maintaining good hygiene, moderate intake of alcohol and regular exercise.
