When enjoying an orange, many people remove the white, fibrous layer called the pith, often because of its bitter taste, texture, or simply for appearance. However, discarding it means you could be missing out on valuable nutrients. Here’s why keeping the white pith on your orange can actually be beneficial.
If you’ve ever eaten an orange, you’ve probably noticed the white layer underneath the rind. This part of the fruit is often overlooked because of its bitterness, bland color, and slightly spongy texture.
“Orange pith, also known as the albedo, is the spongy, white-ish part of the orange just below the peel and between the orange segments,” Avery Zenker, RD, told Health. It makes up about 25% of the orange and is mainly composed of fiber, such as cellulose and pectin.
Piths aren’t unique to oranges. Other citrus fruits, like lemons, limes, pomelos, and grapefruits, also have pith. What many people don’t realize is that this often-discarded part of citrus fruits contains fiber and unique plant compounds that may offer additional health benefits.
Orange pith is part of the peel, which is typically removed before eating. However, unlike the outer peel, small pieces of the pith often remain attached to the orange segments.
Although most people peel the pith from orange segments before eating, leaving it on can make the fruit even healthier.
“Orange pith is quite healthy, providing fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C,” said Zekner. “The pith is even higher in some nutrients than the flesh, so you’ll get more nutrition eating the pith along with the flesh than just the flesh alone.”
Orange piths are surprisingly nutritious. Here’s what they provide.
1. Fiber
The pith is rich in fiber, which supports digestive and heart health. Orange pith contains both soluble and insoluble fiber.
Insoluble fiber adds bulk to stool, helping move waste through the digestive tract and supporting regular bowel movements. In turn, soluble fiber can help lower cholesterol by binding to it in the digestive tract and promoting its removal. It also forms a gel-like substance that slows digestion and glucose absorption, which may help moderate post-meal blood sugar spikes.
“Pectin, a component of orange pith, is a soluble fibre that attracts water in the digestive tract and forms a gel-like substance in the gut,” Jennifer Pallian, BSc, RD, told Health.
2. Antioxidants
Orange pith is rich in flavonoids, like hesperidin, and carotenoids, like beta-carotene. Studies show that the flavedo (the outer layer of the peel) and the pith contain more flavonoids than the fruit.
Citrus flavonoids, like hesperidin, and beta-carotene have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Hesperidin may improve heart health by supporting blood vessel function and reducing inflammation, while increasing your intake of beta-carotene may protect against health conditions like age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and certain cancers.
3. Vitamin C and Other Micronutrients
While most of an orange’s vitamin C is found in the juicy flesh, the pith also contains this essential nutrient.
Although it’s unclear how much vitamin C the pith contributes, leaving it on will provide a boost of this nutrient, which plays important roles in overall health. Vitamin C functions as a powerful antioxidant in the body, protecting cells against oxidative damage, and is needed for collagen production, immune function, and many other critical processes.
Orange pith also contains small amounts of other micronutrients, including potassium, a mineral that plays an important role in blood pressure regulation. However, like vitamin C, the exact amount provided by a typical serving of pith is unclear and likely varies from fruit to fruit.
Orange pith has a bitter taste, which is especially apparent when eating it with the sweet-tasting orange fruit. There’s also an increased risk of pesticide exposure. Citrus fruits are often sprayed with pesticides and fungicides to protect them from pests and disease.
“Pesticide residues tend to accumulate in the peel rather than the pulp,” noted Pallain.
Thankfully, research suggests that removing the peel can reduce pesticide levels by roughly 82% to 100%, depending on the specific compound.
You don’t have to eat the pith to reap the health benefits of oranges. “Although the pith contains fiber such as hemicellulose, pectin, and cellulose, along with flavonoids like hesperidin, the juicy interior of the fruit still provides substantial nutritional value even when the peel and pith are removed,” said Pallain.
That said, if you don’t mind the taste, you can keep the pith on. “If you want a little more bang for the buck, eating the pith can be a simple way to get more fiber and antioxidants out of an orange,” said Zekner.
