If you’ve been hanging out with EatingWell long enough, you know how important gut health is to us—and we hope it’s equally as important to you, too. Harboring trillions of microorganisms, your gut performs a delicate balancing act, helping your digestion and overall health with its fluctuating ratio of good and bad bacteria. That balance influences both your immediate and long-term health.
There are many factors that can tip the scales in favor of the beneficial microorganisms—or toward the harmful ones. For example, not getting enough exercise can negatively affect gut health, in part because a lack of physical activity has been shown to cause dysbiosis—an imbalance between beneficial and harmful gut bacteria.
Stress and gut health have a bidirectional relationship. When you’re stressed out, it affects gut health. It also works in reverse. Poor gut health can increase feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.
And of course, what you eat also influences gut health. For example, certain ultra-processed foods that are high in trans and saturated fats, sugar, sodium and artificial additives can wreak havoc on your gut’s microbiome. But fermented foods, like yogurt, kefir and kimchi, place probiotics—helpful bacteria—into your gut. And since bacteria are living organisms, they need to be nourished to flourish. That’s where prebiotics come in.
Your beneficial gut bacteria love prebiotics, which are types of fiber they nosh on to grow and thrive. But that’s not all. When the prebiotics also contain polyphenols—powerful plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties—the beneficial gut bacteria help transform the polyphenols, making them more easily absorbed by the body and more effective in their health-promoting properties.
Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes are all prebiotic foods. When you can eat the skin of your produce, it ups the prebiotic and nutrient content. But some produce often get peeled and the peels get tossed, creating what may be unnecessary food waste. For example, did you know you can eat banana peel? Same for Kiwi skin. And of course potato skins—but also sweet potato skins.
But there’s another fruit skin you might not think much about until you need some orange zest for your baked oatmeal or spread some orange marmalade on your toast—the orange peel.
Researchers in Nigeria took a closer look at previous studies done on orange peels and their chemical makeup, as well as their effect on human health, and published their findings in December 2024 in Human Nutrition & Metabolism. Here’s what they found.
What Did the Study Find?
Oranges are a popular fruit, and orange juice is pretty popular, too. But whether you eat the orange flesh or drink the juice, the peel usually gets tossed. This creates a heap of food waste that could actually be eaten. Plus, you’re not just tossing away a snack—you’re tossing out a nutrition powerhouse.
Study authors point out that orange peel is rich in dietary fiber and polyphenols. In particular, they contain lots of pectin, a type of soluble fiber that absorbs water in the digestive tract and makes it easier to poop. Soluble fiber also slows digestion, helping to stabilize blood sugar. In addition, this type of fiber binds to cholesterol, sweeping it out of the body, and may even lower blood pressure.
And there’s more. Researchers say there is evidence that orange peel benefits the gut microbiome in several ways:
- The fiber from the peels supports the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestines.
- When these beneficial organisms ferment the fiber in the peel, it changes the composition of the polyphenols, converting them to a more usable, beneficial form.
- The flavonoids—types of antioxidants—in orange peel may inhibit the growth of potentially harmful bacteria in the intestines and encourage the growth of an abundance of helpful bacteria.
- Orange peel flavanols also help strengthen the intestinal barrier, preventing intestinal hyperpermeability, also known as leaky gut syndrome.
- The polyphenols in orange peel contribute to the survivability of probiotic organisms through the digestive tract, including Lactobacillus spp, one of the most helpful types of probiotics.
Is It Safe to Eat Orange Peel?
Of course, some may worry about potential pesticides on the orange peel. Oranges didn’t make the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, which highlights produce that tends to have the highest amounts of pesticides—but they didn’t make the organization’s Clean 15 list either. Should we be concerned about pesticides in the orange peel?
Several studies suggest there’s a high probability that various types of oranges and other citrus fruits have a number of different pesticide residues on them. One study found that multiple residues were detected in 83% of 76 analyzed citrus fruit samples. In addition, 28% contained pesticides at or above maximum residue levels. Another study that tested mandarin oranges found that only 8.4% of the samples detected no quantifiable residues, whereas 207 samples contained at least one residue. And 22.1% of the samples exceeded the allowable maximum residue level.
There is some evidence that washing the outside of the orange with tap water may reduce the residue levels by 26-84%. But in some cases, oranges treated with an outer wax coating held the pesticides beneath the wax and couldn’t be washed off.
If you’re worried about pesticide exposure, you can purchase organic oranges, as organic farmers cannot use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. With that said, organic farmers can use natural pesticides, which means you’ll still want to wash the outside of your produce. This is important because all produce, no matter how it was grown, can be introduced to harmful bacteria, including Salmonella, Listeria and E. coliboth while it’s growing and after harvest.
Wash your hands before you wash your oranges to avoid cross-contamination. It’s then recommended that you rinse and scrub the oranges under cold running water. Avoid soaking them and using any sort of detergent. Soaking the oranges can reintroduce them to bacteria and pesticides. Detergent might not completely rinse off and could also enter the fruit—and who knows how that might affect your health in the long run.
If you want extra assurance, you could use a quick diluted vinegar soak after rinsing and scrubbing them under running water. The acetic acid in the vinegar disrupts the growth of bacteria and fungi that might be growing on the outside of the produce. This can also be done by spraying them with a vinegar and water solution. Whether you soak them briefly or spray them down, be sure to thoroughly rinse them again under cold running water to get any vinegar taste and residue off.
What Does This Mean in Real Life?
Including orange peel in cooking isn’t a new thing. We use orange zest—which is part of the orange peel—in several of our recipes, including Seared Scallops with Citrus-Ginger Quinoa, our Carrot Smoothie and this classic Mustard-Maple Pork Roast. You can use spirals of orange peel or orange slices with the skin on to garnish your favorite beverage. Orange marmalade contains orange peel and you can buy or make candied orange peels for a dessert garnish.
If you aren’t totally convinced to start munching on big pieces of orange peel right away, you can at least start saving your zest for later. Alex Loh, EatingWell’s associate food editor, says that you can zest your oranges directly into a freezer bag and store the zest in the freezer until you’re ready to add it to a cake, cocktail, dip or even as a garnish on side dish, like these glazed carrots.
The Bottom Line
All types of oranges are excellent sources of vitamin C, fiber and a wide range of antioxidants. This includes the flesh of the orange, its juice and its peel. Scientists suggest eating the orange peel for its prebiotic and polyphenol properties, which benefit the gut microbiome. If you’re going to include orange peel in your recipes more often, consider using organic oranges and giving them a thorough cleaning before zesting or slicing the peel.
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