Standard Reference Material Bitter Orange

Bitter Orange，also known as Seville orange, sour orange, and Zhi shi, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine and by indigenous people of the Amazon tropical rain forest for nausea, indigestion and constipation. Currently, bitter orange are used for heartburn, loss of appetite, nasal congestion and weight loss. Furthermore, it has also been applied to skin for fungal infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot.
Bitter orange has been used as a substitute for ephedra, a dietary supplement for weight loss but now banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The dried fruit and peel of bitter orange - and sometimes the flowers and leaves - are taken by mouth in extracts, tablets and capsules. Bitter orange oil also can be applied to the skin. The National Institute of Standards and Technology supplies standardized samples of bitter orange in three forms that represent different analytical measurement challenges: ground fruit, extract and solid oral dosage form (tablets).