Your Health

Magnificent mandarins

Winnipeg Health Region
Wave Magazine, November / December 2009

Every year about this time, local grocers begin to stock one of nature's treasures: the mandarin orange.

This sweet, seedless fruit originated in China centuries ago, but arrived in North America via Japan, sometime in the late 1800s. More recently, mandarin oranges have been imported from China and even the United States.

Always delicious, the mandarin orange owes much of its popularity to the fact that it is easy to peel and eat. It's the perfect portable snack for your lunch bag, purse or briefcase.

Mandarin oranges also pack a lot of nutritional punch. Two clementines or one tangerine can provide as much as 87 per cent of the daily requirement of vitamin C, as well as vitamin A and soluble fibre. The white pith that so many of us prefer to peel off also contains fibre and nutrients. These oranges are bursting with flavonoids, a plant chemical with health benefits that scientists are continuing to discover.

With so many reasons to choose this sweet, juicy fruit, why not bring a basket to your next holiday potluck? It's quick, easy and a light alternative to heavier holiday foods.

	About Wave Wave is published six times a year by the Winnipeg Health Region in cooperation with the Winnipeg Free Press. It is available at newsstands, hospitals and clinics throughout Winnipeg, as well as McNally Robinson Books. Read the November / December 2009 issue of Wave