Researchers may have uncovered a health secret hiding in plain sight. Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a compound linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, can build up in the body, and too much of it can increase the risk of heart problems. But the extract from orange peels can reduce the amount of TMAO that gets produced.
Trimethylamine (TMA), another compound linked to higher risk of heart problems and produced when the body digests red meat, is made by tiny organisms called gut microbiota that live in the stomach. The orange peel extract makes it harder for these microbiota to produce TMA. The researchers tested the production of TMAO and TMA using two types of extracts: polar and non-polar fractions.
(The polar fraction includes anything that dissolves in the water or vinegar part of the mixture, while the non-polar fraction includes anything that dissolves in the oil part of the mixture and stays away from the water.) Orange peels can be repurposed into valuable health-promoting ingredients, according to Ms. Wang.
“Our research paves the way for developing functional foods enriched with these bioactive compounds, providing new therapeutic strategies for heart health,” she said in a press release. The research also sheds new light on the previously unrecognized health potential of feruloylputrescine, the compound found in the extract’s polar fraction. Some research suggests that feruloylputrescine may play a role in heart health due to its antioxidant an.
