Flavonoids suppress destructive oxygen free radicals -- reactive oxygen species, or ROS. An overabundance of free radicals can damage all components of the cell, including proteins, fats and DNA, contributing to chronic diseases, including heart disease and stroke as well as diabetes, according to senior author Dr. Paresh Dandona, of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical.

The study involved 32 healthy participants between the ages

of 20 and 40, of normal weight, who were assigned randomly into groups, who drank 300 calories-worth of glucose, fructose, orange juice or saccharin-sweetened water.

There was no increase in ROS or inflammation following orange juice consumption, even though its glucose concentration was the same as in participants in the glucose group, according to the study published in Diabetes Care.

An additional test found neither fructose nor vitamin C suppressed the oxygen free radicals, however the two types of flavonoids in orange juice -- hesperetin and naringenin -- inhibited ROS generation by 52 percent and 77 percent, respectively.