Oh brother. Yeah, thanks for the heads up.
21
I drink a lot of OJ. Even though I cycle 45 to 50 miles a week, I still have a little gut.....guess I need to stop drinking OJ.
35
I found out that the label can say 100% juice even though flavor enhancing chemicals are added, including a chemical made from the anal glands of beavers! Being strictly vegan, I never drank juice again.
15
I long tuned out of this boorishness by smug, self-satisfied obsessives who want to police what others eat, insisting that nothing is allowed except a single lettuce leaf washed down with “natural” pond water or such - but only if it is a lettuce that’s grass-fed and free to roam, of course. Ideally organic. Oh, no pesticides either, and the soil has to be of a neutral Ph and be unspoilt by passing wildlife. It seems the NYT is now pushing Orthorexia on its readers.
Why can’t you people preach personal responsibility? Or parental responsibility? Why must you try and force everyone to do what thou wilt? I’m off to have a delicious glass of ice cold juice, knowing that today we drink and tomorrow we may die.
62
It’s really quite strange that this is labeled as “opinion” from the NYT. Seems pretty well grounded in fact.
100
Very long ago, when my first child was a patient, the legendary Manhattan pediatrician Ramon Murphy expressed to me his thoughts on the (then-new) vogue for constantly giving little children juice boxes to suck on:
"Would you hand your child a cup of sugar water spiked with pesticides and call it healthy?"
I never bought another juice box except to serve at birthday parties. Thank you, Dr. Murphy.
79
Hasn’t this been known for some time already?
43
My wife is sure I will be able to survive on water (we have our own filtered well on Whidbey Island Washington state and on the carrots she grows. I do not to survive past my 74 years as I bore myself to death. My wife (we are married 53 years of faithfulness) will live to 100 happily without old dip you know what.
8
No more screwdrivers, back to martinis.
60
Yes -- juice is NOT healthy! In fact I stopped serving it when my kids were little-- 30 years ago. Actually, fruit is not all that healthy except when eaten in season in moderate amounts. Dried fruit is just as bad. It can also raise your blood sugar and add weight. Fruit should be dessert not a nosh. People like to say eat your F&V because fruit is so much tastier and easier to prepare. The truth is eat your vegetables.
41
Article is pointless if you don't define "juice."
32
'... fruit juices contain limited nutrients and tons of sugar. In fact, one 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, ..." It makes sense that tons of fruit juices might contain "tons of sugar". but why do the authors mention this? One would have to drink roughly 8 tons of juice to consume a ton of sugar. That's even dumber than using such a stupid expression.
33
Food industry makes it hard to eat healthier. It’s hard to find an item no sugar and no sodium. Once you start watching intake of these two thereafter you can just taste the ugliness of all that sugar and salt added to everythang. Not everything. Everythang. Meaning its pervasive like they’re making us eat this junk. Takes time and patience to look for and cook healthy. Retired now, got time.
Practiced law 30 years, never had the time.
12
Now OJ! What next? Why you people continue to yuck up my yum! Enough already.
I'm staying with what's worked for me. Everything in moderation.
29
Alarmist nonsense. No juice! No sugar! No carbs! No alcohol! No meat! These authors can enjoy a life of tap water if they want to, but kids (and adults) can easily handle a serving of just about any beverage as long as they stay active.
47
'contains tons of sugar'...this kind of silly language udermines your analysis. would 'tons' pass peer review? I think not. Better and appropriate language please.
39
The obesity problem is a temporary epidemic.......just wait a few decades.....wait until there are 20 billion people on earth.....having waaayyy to much food will not be a problem for long....
20
The heck am I suppose to put in my mimosa; TANG??? I can't be expected to drink champagne at all hours straight!
57
Industry giants brainwashed all television-watching Americans in the 1960s and 70s. Florida citrus interests, soft drink bottlers, Big Sugar, etc.
47
Clearly the answer is more Champagne and less OJ in one's mimosas.
211
What about juices that you make yourself, like fresh-squeezed OJ? Would you put that in the same category?
13
People are fat because poor people, about 30-40% of the American population, will not stop eating fast food and then eat too much of it.
It has NOTHING to do with a glass of orange juice. It has to do with the 1lb bowl of fruit loops or fruity pebbles for breakfast, the French frys at school for break and the two slices of pizza for lunch.
People are fat because their parents are fat and don’t care, don’t have the energy or the time/money to cook cook cook cook cook meals all the time.
Are you all so disconnected from the world that you think juice is the problem?! Maybe 1500 calorie lunches that are casual as a whole California pizza kitchen pizza! Or some other nonsense is the case.
We eat out out out out all the time. Duh. Those meals are thousands!! Of calories. People need to eat MAYBE 2000calories a day and that’s is if they are actively exercising 3 times a week. Ha!
Our serf society of poverty and paycheck to paycheck life influences people to feel stressed and live off dollar menus, sad!
36
Why is this article in the opinion section when there are so many facts? The influence of companies on what people put into their bodies is astounding.
15
Ms. Cheng is just envious of the two orange trees that I have here in my yard in California. This is just sour grapes — or sour OJ, rather — on her part.
5
So what is next besides drinking water and eating whole fruit. Is it fasting till we are all gone?
9
I try to make sure I dilute my orange juice with champagne.
36
Now you’ve gone too far. Hold my beer....
13
Juice is not poison, for crissake.
But, yeah, juice is sugary, so moderation is the thing.
20
Shouldn’t it say “healthful”?
10
I drink tea and coffee instead of juice.
26
A silly article by authors who do not understand the basics of nutrient interactions that juices can provide for maintaining health.
21
Ha! I hate juices. Why on earth would you drink orange juice if you can eat oranges? I do AirBnB and for reasons I can't fathom my guests live on juices, 'smoothies', and cold cereal. What is wrong with these people? And they're righteous about it to boot.
14
Hard to believe the authors could write this piece without being clear about what type of fruit juice they’re talking about. (Also surprising a NYT editor didn’t catch that.) I doubt what they say would apply to fresh-squeezed orange juice.
12
You'll take my orange juice away from me when you pry it FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!
10
Life is dangerous to your health.
23
Orange juice is bad. Water is worse. Air stinks. The world is a horror show. Get out of this planet! (My heavens, is ANYTHING actually GOOD?)
28
Dear Erika, Lauren, And Aaron,
Your article should be titled; Seriously, pasteurized juices that you find next to the eggs at the super market is not healthy.
Why? Because this is the precise truth that can help alleviate confusion. Your link attached to 6.6 gallons of juice per year states after this statics that the leading juice supplier is Tropicana Pure Premium. Most common scientific sense people know this isn't healthy for them. However those that think all juice and all fruit are created equal may be apart of this statistical consumption.
To save our time, nice data accumulation but your article is not yet fully rounded to become a peer reviewed editorial.
Kind Regards,
Brooke Shade
9
Yes sugar is bad but it has been around for 300 years. All ur obesity problems started when we invented HFCS. From that point on obesity skyrocketed.
5
The authors do not differentiate between packaged " juice " nor fresh squeezed organic juices.
You also fail to write about fresh green vegetable juices without any fruit in it. Non fruit juices. Have you heard of these? Do you understand the difference from fruit juices?
We have known for thirty years of the harm caused by sugar. Diabsity, cancer, blood pressure and other circulation problems
Did you just recently learn of this info?
Your article falls short.
2
We were advised to give our babies apple juice.
2
I'm diabetic and haven't drunk OJ for 25 years because my blood sugar goes sky high. Good to know the reason for that.
13
Great gutsy article - and please, professors, get the word out to your peers (other pediatricians)! Haven't had juice in years, haven't had soda in decades. The last time I tried a tiny swig of orange juice, it tasted disgustingly sweet, and I couldn't tolerate it.
I put two tea bags of any herbal tea in a 64-oz glass container filled with water and let it steep for a couple of hours, then add a tiny amount of stevia. Set for the the day. I figure it's one of several ways to never get diabetes. Not chugging uber-sweet drinks also stops the sweet-salt-sweet cravings that we (and white rats) are prone to have. Back in the day, I could down an RC Cola with a bag of salty chips...but without the sweet drink, the salty chips are just chips.
6
Finally an article that highlights this basic truth. Try squeezing one orange and see how much juice you get. 4 ounces maximum. Drinking 12 oz of orange juice is like eating 3 or 4 oranges but without the fiber. Nobody needs that.
29
Indians can rival Americans in consuming variety of juice extracts sold across the counter.
A typical advertisement says " We offer a wide range of ayurvedic juice like Aloe Vera Juice, Amla Juice, triphala, karela, , carrot juice, beetroot Juice and many others. Formulated using the natural extracts of herbal plants,.."
These products are easily prone to microbial attack and can be marketed only by the addition of suitable preservative most likely Sodium benzoate, the food grade preservative, is the most commonly used preservative. Not too sure of the long term consumption of preservative loaded juice.
Ayurveda defines juice is a fresh beverage made from fresh fruit, vegetable, or herb consumed right away at room temperature.
Ayurveda cautions " The more the better doesn’t work in case of juice consuming. Having half a cup of fresh homemade diluted juice from a single type of fruit or vegetable at room temperature and with accordance with your dosha (body type) and the season will bring much more benefits than gallons of preserved cold “juice” made of a dozen of different fruits which don’t get along well. Regularity is the key. Our body can assimilate only that much as it can, everything else turns into toxins".
3
Seriously, this article is laughable! I have a friend who is overweight and has tried to follow a diet that can help her to loose her 80 extra pounds avoiding fruits and yes! eating lots of animal protein. So, what did she does? She follows this article recommendations and warnings, seriously. She stopped eating fruits such asranges because oranges are like pasta, full of carbs! Seriously....
1
Glad to read that as a skinny 70 year old I can replace my freshly squeezed oj(pulp added) with a can of cola and a multivitamin. Also learned today from Fox News that almonds are just as good for you as bacon. Might start having an RC Cola and a Moon Pie for breakfast.
7
A juice box is really for children old enough to be embarrassed by a pacifier but not yet ready to give one up.
7
Remember in the 1960s-1970s when you ordered OJ at restaurants, it came in this little teeny-tiny glass?
24
Okay...got it and I will benefit from it. I drink a lot of high pulp OJ, never any soda.
How much sugar is in milk?
4
This gets so boring. Coffee cause cancer, no wait it makes you live longer, no wait it’s bad. Bacon is the food of Satan, though aren’t bacon sandwiches great. Red meat good, white meat bad - but no think of the poor chickens being farmed so obscenely! Fish is healthy, oh won’t someone think of the poor fish! Red wine is good no it’s bad wait it’s good again. Sugar is bad unless you need energy in which case it’s good. Salt is bad but also good but bad but good but. Fat is bad, yes it’s very bad no wait it’s good again, no it it’s still bad, well I say it’s good, okay but only certain fat and...
I tuned out a long time ago. Life is too short - enjoy it while it lasts. You want some juice? Have some. Just remember to not go wild with it and to brush your teeth and take some exercise.
32
Right ON!
The myth of juice has gone too far. When you study marketing 101 orange juice is one of the first examples of how to "juice" something up as a must for something like say breakfast when it reality it is a convenience for the producer. Easy to grow substandard oranges squeeze em up add sugar water and a bit of waste if people like pulpy freeze and ship.
A good indicator of rip off is advertising. Orange juice is a high margin item mainly because of the misconception but also the production mentioned above. Hence Coke owns Minute Maid and markets the heck out of it.
The stuff is not good...eat an orange...hmmm good! At least keep the juice it away from kids and their tender teeth!
6
It’s all about big industry and economics! Orange growers in Florida, dairy farmers in Wisconsin, beef cattle in Texas... When the government continues to put the pockets of the few before the needs of the many we all suffer.
10
But I can't live without my Five Alive.
2
Point taken, but please stop the black and white thinking.
I remember well when eggs, butter and fat were considered gastronomic horror shows.
I drink Just Tart Cherry juice (recommended by the Peoples Pharmacy site) to diminish muscle pain while sleeping. It works well.
I'm sure there are many healthy juices out there but this article is too simple to cover any helpful information. When it comes to health NYT needs to improve beyond the surface and conventional.
Everything in moderation, right?
7
Orange juice has its place in the adult diet.
It is a vital ingredient in the Tequila Sunrise, The Fuzzy Navel, and the most famous orange juice based cocktail in the world: The Screwdriver.
It's just not that healthy for kids, however....
12
Who drinks 12 oz of juice at a go?
2
https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM
Above is a link to a YouTube video produced by the University of California with Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. It's a fascinating dissertation. It's aimed at the layperson. You don't need a degree in biochemistry to understand it's significance. It's eye opening.
I remember decades ago PR spigots for the corn grower assoc, primary producers of High Fructose Corn Syrup, crying on TV ads how there was absolutely no difference that 'sugar was sugar'. Poor family farmers were being unfairly put out of business, implying a conspiracy of persecution by Ignorant Elitist East Coast City Dwelling Liberals.
7
We live in Florida and stopped drinking orange juice about twenty years ago. 50/50 Mimosas do not count, of course.
10
How does everyone not know this already? New Brunswick (one of our provinces) has banned juice from public schools and the rest of the country needs to follow. Complete waste of calories for anyone who cares about their weight or health. Stop drinking it!
9
I've been saying much the same to my friends who like to indulge in "juice fasting" every once in a while to lose a quick five pounds. Temporary weight loss and total snake oil. Eat a carrot, eat an apple, eat an orange, eat some celery—save money and do your body a favor.
14
Dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, sucrose etal are all sugars but they are not all the same.
Your brain can only utilize glucose for instance.
See the video by Dr Lustig. You don't need a degree in biochemistry. It's eye opening. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
6
I find it interesting that authors of the article are professors of pediatrics, yet so many people in the comments feel they are qualified to contradict the knowledge of these experts, simply because they have an uninformed opinion and know how to type.
22
I don't see how so many of these commenters can get so passionate in their defense of sugar water...
12
Can someone at NYT follow-up with this and give the definitive answer on smoothies–aka blended whole fruits. Oh, and does it matter if they're frozen or not. My guess is that it falls in the middle–not as bad as squeezed/pressed juice but not as good as eating a whole fruit. Still. It's 100 degrees today and my blender is calling me... (oh, also am talking about for adults, not kids).
2
Thank you for the truth about juice.
Now let us all say a prayer for parents and children across our country ,to stop the uncontrolled spread of diabetes 2.
Would you go to the sugar canister and eat 10 spoons of sugar?
?
7
Store bought juice is not healthy.
Make your own is. Get a juicer and your fruits and veggies and it's easy and healthy
juice is as big a hype as soda and pop..
whole fruit always is the way to go!!
sorry tropicana.. sorry coca cola..
10
"In fact, one 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, which is roughly what’s in a can of Coke."
This OpEd would be a lot easier to understand if it reported calories, which are prominently displayed on all nutrition labels.
Anyway, the can of Coke has fewer calories:
Sugar (1 tsp): 15 cal
Coke (12 oz): 140 cal
100% Orange Juice (12 oz): 165-180 cal (scaled up from 8 oz with 110-120 cal, per Nutrition Facts labels found on web)
3
Does anyone remember Hi-C? LOL! Moderation does seem to be key in all of this mess.
1
I'm switching from pomegranate juice to seltzer.
2
There is some truth that juice is not as healthy as some people believe and it is certainly not as healthy as whole fruit. But comparing it to Coke is essentially softdrink industry propaganda. It is not empty calories with caffeine added to make it addictive.
5
I grew up sorrounded by fruit trees of all sorts. We ATE plenty of fruits, but it never crossed my mother's mind to turn them into juice. It was necessary to feel full. An orange and a panino made a great school snack. We had oranges as side dishes to the main course. We never had juice.
7
Sugar is not absolutely unhealthy. Not even sugary dessert and drinks are absolutely unhealthy. Eating all one wants of organically grown whole foods does not prevent obesity or diabetes. What we know from experience is what seems to be reliably predictable expectations of a range of possibilities. We don’t get absolute truths from empirical knowledge. The knowledge can be incomplete and the conclusions only valid from what is known. The value and reliability of our knowledge about nutrition must be considered from what is known and how reliably anyone can predict outcomes according to that knowledge from subsequent outcomes.
5
While I understand that some juices are loaded with sugar, this particular opinion piece seems a little unbalanced and in some ways a bit over an overreach. For example, not all juices have the same amount of sugar. Grapefruit juice (not the sugar added variety, but plain old Tropicana) has 17 grams of sugar in an 8 ounce glass, versus 23 grams in a glass of orange juice (by the way, who says you have to have an 8 ounce glass?). Pure organic cranberry juice, like Lakewood Pure organic has 9 grams of sugar (because they don't sweeten it with grape or apple juice concentrates). Juices can be a great, tasty source of vitamins and anti-oxidants. You just have to be careful which ones you choose to consume and in what quantities.
5
Good point about the serving size. When I was growing up, a serving of juice was 4 oz.
7
As a nutritionist, obesity scientist and a mom, I say, for goodness sake, drink some orange juice if you like it. Just don't drink a lot. Same for your kids. Food and drink make us happy and in science and medicine it's easy to forget that. There are few drinks as wonderful as cold oj in the morning.
23
The comments are chock full of sugar apologists and folks who didn't read the article. I'm not sure how much overlap is there but it's a great demonstration of one of the author's points: we are starting to recognize the harm of sugar and sugary soda but are ignoring the harm of sugar in juice. "But, but, there's PULP, that must be healthy."
8
Folks - moderation in everything - including the actual fruit by itself:
One medium-sized navel orange contains 17.56 grams of total carbohydrates, which includes 11.9 grams of natural sugar. One navel orange has 69 calories. (per USDA)
Two oranges are almost the recommended daily allowance for total sugar for a woman.
7
It's been long known that fruit juice spikes blood sugar levels, induces weight gain and rots teeth. Perhaps it isn't quite the villain that soda pop and energy drinks clearly are, but definitely is on the dark side.
9
Everything in moderation.
Except beer.
15
I don't want to hear this. I gave up drugs, alcohol, red meat, cigarettes, dairy, etc. all to be healthy and lose weight. Now juice is a problem. I think I was happier when I was overweight and ignorant.
11
Healthy juices like Cranberry, Grape, Orange, and Pomorgranate, don't need to be avoided completely! Four ounces of the Juice and four ounces of water, mixed! You then have a nice eight ounce drink!
10
OK. Orange juice has sugar. But the real culprit, it would seem to me, in obesity, is junk food.
1
I don’t understand why this is an opinion piece.
The statements aren’t the opinion of the author, but scientific fact.
Glad you ran the article, but perhaps placing it in the “Science” section of the paper would be more appropriate.
5
My youngest son drank a gallon of orange every day. Our grocery store was 45 minutes from our home so I bought 7 gallons on each weekly trip. He's almost 40 now, 6'8" tall, broad, muscular, big boned, a graduate of University of Chicago with the equivalent of straight A's, and father of a strapping son. I'm just sayin'.
4
What nonsense. Natural juices are one of the healthiest substances we can put into our bodies. Natural juices contain all we need to stay healthy.
1
No one mentions the heart of darkness of American Capitalism, addict the population and you have a permanent source of profit. Sugar, salt, fat (tobacco [once], shopping still, but that's a different topic) are addictive.
8
This should have been published in the NYT years ago with the outrageous sugar load in fruit juices. Stick with apples, whole.
You want some juice? Try water or coffee. Your temporary body should be less temporary with any luck at all.
We are all living with a death sentence. No reason to make matters even worse by loading up on that highly destructive substance, SUGAR. Even worse giving it to our unknowing small children.
4
One large apple contains 130 calories and 34 g of carbohydrates, including 5 g of dietary fiber and 25 g of sugars.
Apples have more carbohydrates and sugar than most other fruits.
Other fruits with similar amounts of sugar include watermelons and grapes, with 20 g per serving, and bananas, with 19 g per serving.
3
Like most foods, juice, in moderation, won't do any harm. A glass of orange juice at breakfast is unlikely to result in lifelong obesity. Drinking multiple glasses of juice throughout the day, every day, may create a problem. These stories are always presented in an all-or-nothing way. We don't need to cut out all juice drinking, or cookie eating or even potato chip snacking. But, we do need to be cognizant of the harm too much of anything can do. Just be aware and moderate your diet, and you can remain healthy.
10
I just mix my juice with water. This solves the sugar problem and it tastes better too, imho.
4
Don’t drink your calories. Some milk, if you like it and tolerate it, would be an exception.
5
This article fails to mention what the appropriate alternative may be. I’d suppose milk or water. But without identifying a solution the authors just sound like complainers. Parenting 101: say “no” but provide an alternative.
To support the argument that consuming juice leads to weight gain the authors of this article provide a link to a “research” study that showed adults who drank apple juice before a meal ate more calories than those who started with an apple instead. Although the study referenced did show that individuals who ate an apple before consuming a meal consumed fewer total calories compared to those who drank apple juice before the meal it is misleading to argue that drinking apple juice leads to weight gain. In fact, the referenced study (linked research) actually supports the opposite argument. Specifically, that included a control meal in which no juice was consumed prior to the meal and found the total calories consumed with and without pre-meal juice to be identical (adding juice before meal led to fewer calories being consumed during the meal). The authors of the NYT article are “cherry-picking” (apple picking?) their data.
The quoted research study actually came to the conclusion that “..more research is needed to test the effects of consuming different forms of fruit on energy intake over longer periods of time before conclusions about the role of fruit in different forms in weight management can be made” noting that their own study could only be used to conclude that “starting a meal with a low-energy-dense food, such as soup, salad, or fruit, reduces energy intake at the meal”.
4
Thank you. The ever-popular "juice cleanse" is anything but, and the worst marketing scheme since wash-rinse-repeat.
6
Ok. A “juice cleanse” is not an “orange juice” cleanse. Just choose all vegetable juices. Kale, spinach, celery, & parsley. Maybe a little lemon or lime. There’s very little sugar. And it taste like dirt. I love it...
1
Electrolytes!
3
If it unclear to you what the difference is between fructose and sucrose, watch Dr. Robert Lustig's YouTube videos on how how they are metabolized. Very enlightening.
6
We stopped Soda a few years ago - now we have seltzer only with dinner w/ a splash of cranberry juice - other than that we drink water.
Jerry W N E Kingdom VT
3
I have similar suspicions about smoothies - the fiber is chopped up, the machine doing what your body should. Give me the whole fruit and veggies any day.
5
The main problem with this article is its failure to distinguish between fruit juice that's OK versus fruit juice that isn't OK. There are many different preparations on the market, including the orange juice you squeeze yourself using fresh oranges in your house, so it's hard to believe that all are equally bad.
3
For a moment the headline had me panicked but its just sloppy and misleading- "juice" does no automatically mean fruit juice. Home made veggie juice is still good, in moderation, naturally. And delicious.
1
Just stop please... A glass of full pulp orange juice is absolutely delicious with a healthy breakfast and I feel great afterwards, ACTIVE and healthy. Please stop ruining things.
10
Just juice your own veggies and fruit it's healthy. You don't need processed food.
2
Same thing with cereal- a 2 cups bowl of lucky charms has the same sugar level as a snickers bar- some reason people think eating cereal is "healthier" ..
5
The per capita consumption of 6.6 gallons per year works out to less than 1/3 of a cup per day, a "staggering" 35 Calories per day.
Per capita soda consumption by contrast is about 37 gallons per year (1.6 cups per person per day, ~160 Calories if it's not diet).
Live a little.
4
There are comments comparing fresh-squeezed orange juice to concentrate. Very few people drink fresh-squeezed. It's many times the cost if you can find it, or you have to squeeze a bag of oranges to just get one glass. It's like comparing fresh venison to store hamburger--what's the point?
3
Sugar will KILL YOU or make your life miserable . Back in the 50's Coke was sold in 6 oz. bottles and regarded as a treat. But Pepsi escalated with "twice as much for a nickle more". Back then, that 6 oz. Coke did cost only 5c.
All juices are mainly sugar .... one 6 oz. serving of juice daily is the best answer. And water is purest of all. An ice-cold Dasani suits me just fine.
2
How wonderful to know that fruit juice is not healthy. So good that the media keep us informed in this way! Maybe next week we will find that cheese is not healthy, and the week after that that potatoes are not healthy, and then that whole wheat bread is not healthy. What would we do without this crucial information?
3
If you read the comments, you will see that what is obvious to you is not so obvious to many others.
3
Water is all well and good, but do you know what the best beverage for kids is? Milk! Milk (particularly skim or 1% milk) is high in protein, natural sugars, calcium, and often has vitamin D added. Of course some children are lactose intolerant, but this problem can be circumvented by lactase pills or unsweetened soy milk. Milk is a delicious and nutritious substitute for these disgusting high-fructose corn syrup-laden juices.
2
How long have we been arguing over what is "food." We have given agriculture over to giant corporations that operate first for profit. If it's cheaper to crush oranges than to ship them, we get the Florida Sunshine Tree. It used to be frozen concentrate, no?
Corporations of all stripes have much too much control over our food and nutrition, health care and education, employee benefits and criminal justice. And clearly, our government loves to reward them with ever greater tax cuts.
As always, the problem is money in politics. Fix that, and our food choices will be better informed.
5
Juice does have more nutrients than other beverages like soda and coffee drinks. Consumption of fruit correlates highly with reduced rate of cancer. There was a recent article in the NYT about lifespan which showed fruit consumption correlated to a long life span. The problem is that over the past 10 years, overall consumption of fruits has declined in favor of coffee and other drinks. We shouldn’t demonize something healthful like orange juice, which is normally consume in an 8oz glass. Let’s target the real contributors of obesity like sugary snacks and drinks.
Juice IS is both a sugary snack and drink.
4
Sugary fruit drinks are not healthful. Orange Juice mostly provides sugar. There is no reason to have it as part of your diets. A variety of mostly vegetables and some whole fruit will supply all of the benefits and more than what OJ offers. It is basically coke. Apple juice is even worse and probably consumed more by young children.
Lets target all sugary items that contribute to obesity, including so called "healthful" products that are mostly sugar in water.
5
Orange juice *is* a sugary drink. More than 3 tablespoons in 8 ounces. Picture yourself sitting by a sugar bowl with a tablespoon. Would you eat more than 3 tablespoons?
5
Yes! Now we need an article about how most yogurt in US grocery stores is similarly unhealthy and excessively sugary, while also marketed as healthy.
15
Absolutely! So many of the current yoghurt products are desserts masquerading as health food. This includes Chobani which, all props to the company for its success and social conscience, has strayed far from its roots. Buy or make your own plain live culture yoghurt, eat sweetened with a bit of actual fruit. Your body will thank you. By the way, I am lactose intolerant but generic lactose enzyme capsules help.
8
On par with the opioid industry, the sugar industry's manipulation of trials will have long-term ramifications exceeding the Iraq war. We lose so much productivity and money towards obesity and diabetes and now must focus on this manmade crisis instead of solving important issues. Moreover, the tainting of saturated fat data has undermined trust in the medical establishment as it seeks to reverse warnings of butter and other foods.
Even though a conservative, Bernie's push to criminalize these sorts of debauchery really resonated with me. Its time to hold corporations accountable to the degree we hold poor individuals. Harvard and the sugar industry actors should face steep financial penalties AND criminal charges for the lives and taxpayers dollars lost.
4
The real reason that all juice isn’t a healthy way to intake your fruit is because it it ground up so fine that it can instantly raise blood sugar. Whereas whole fruit takes time to digest. I am diabetic and besides bananas when I eat fruit whole my blood sugar doesn’t spike,but it goes up high whenever I have a homemade fruit smoothie or fresh squeezed juice. Never mind what all the additives in the store bought fruit juices.
8
Of course it's not healthy.
It's just sugar, and fructose at that. Your liver has to process fructose, and most of the time it turns it right into fat.
You can get the vitamins and minerals in juice from other low-carb sources. Health-wise, there is no reason to drink fruit juice, or come to that, to eat fruit at all.
6
I drink fruit juice. But since it is too sweet I dilute it with seltzer. I also drink cider. I make smoothies for myself. I make my own limonade and dilute it with seltzer. When I'm really thirsty I drink cold water with a twist of lime or some crushed mint leaves in it. And I love to eat peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, strawberries, apricots, watermelon, and other fruits during the hot summer months. However there's one thing I do that a lot of Americans don't do: make sure that I exercise everyday. I eat a lot of salad over the summer.
Fruit juice that is made from real fruit at home can be quite healthful. But the overly sweet liquid that calls itself fruit juice is not real fruit juice. It won't quench one's thirst the way water or real juice can.
3
Anyone who’s been a Weight Watchers member could have told you this. On the points plan fruits are zero points while juices have a point value. Ostensibly it is as much to get the benefit of the fiber in fruit as the sugar when the fruit is juiced.
9
Fruit juices and sports drinks are a great way to carb-load your body. I found it interesting when my doctor mentioned to me that she often sees endurance athletes coming into her practice with high blood sugar and dulled insulin sensitivity. You can’t always outrun the effects of too much sugar water. Check out Peter Attia’s TEDMED talk.
6
I think the point of the article is that we too often drink "fruit juice" thinking that it has nutrients. The reality is that most of what is on the grocery shelves is so highly processed that it is almost nothing but sugar and, often, added vitamin C, which makes it essentially a soft drink. One 6-8 oz. glass a day probably won't hurt most people, but whole fruit is real food.
Drink water to quench thirst.
8
whole fresh fruits also contain plenty of sugar. Not much health there. Skip fruits! Use berries and most importantly vegetables concentrating on the part grown above the ground. The part found under the ground contains sugar such as in carrots and starches as in potatoes once given pigs to fatten them.
2
The article acknowledges this as well as the key differences; whole fruit often has fiber (and other nutrients) and help a person feel full. Fruit juice does not.
7
The false equivalence you are promoting is part of the public health awareness problem.
When you read the article you saw that they pointed out the different health result between eating the fruit and drinking the juice.
Don't "Skip fruits" as you claim. Eating the whole fruit is useful. Drinking just the juice is damaging.
7
Thank you for starting to get the word out about sugar--in particlular, fructose. Juice is bad, so is dried fruit.
6
Sadly, most Americans, including many healthcare professionals, are at risk because of a potentially lethal combination of ignorance on the one hand, and naivete on the other. Most informed people have known for years that a "low fat" diet was potentially problematic since many of the low-fat foods were high in carbs, the real culprit in obesity. Now we face the issue of addressed here, again based on a belief that anything"natural" is good, completely ignoring the fact that all carbs are not the same. Omitted from this piece is the critical Glycemic Index, which distinguishes calories from carbs on the basis of the speed with which they are metabolized to glucose (sugar) and absorbed. Given equal quantities, sugar in apple juice is absorbed much more quickly than from an apple. It is the resulting higher glycemic Index that makes it more likely to cause obesity, diabetes etc. since the body responds with a higher surge in Insulin, the hormone responsible for storing it in cells as fat. Understanding that all calories are not the same would be a major step in the right direction. Less naivete about messages to the contrary from vested interests like the diet and beverage industries would help.
14
I have a Masters degree from IU. I also have cancer and just underwent chemo and radiation (both!) at the same time last month. I lost 30 pounds in 20 days!!
My mother, smart woman that she was, would only let us have softdrinks once a year (on New Years). Otherwise they were forbidden. Fruit and not "juice" was what she preached. And her sister said not to drink water with or right after a meal since it diluted one's digestive juices. Correct on that one, too.
3
6.6 gallons a year is 2.3 ounces a day. It seems hyperbolic to call that "a lot".
13
How is any of this news. I was a kid in the late 70s/80s and we never were allowed to have juice (or soda) because my Mom said "too much sugar".
4
I have one Golden Rule:
If it is advertised on television, it is good for nothing.
17
Fruit juice in baby bottles is the dentists bain. As little front teeth come in so does decay.
13
The Porsche parked discretely behind your dentist's office would suggest otherwise.
1
Really? Are you equating a glass of freshly screened orange, carrot or other juice as same as sugar? I am not talking about “juice” thats really not juice. I’ve been through this journey and the first step is to give up anything artificial or process goods. The secret is to eat real food for both health and weight management. If you binge once in awhile thats ok, try fasting every so often to clean you system and brain out. It works for me, healthy, energetic, good libido and skinny… and over sixty.
5
Once upon a time a glass of juice was a very small glass....
37
Dilute the juice slowly with water if you are giving it to children. If you do not make a fuss about it, the kids will not notice.
4
When you write "added sugars for Americans and contribute, on average, 145 added calories a day to our diets"- you forget to mention that you meant 145kcal (1000 times more than 145 cal) but somehow it has become a trend to call (mostly by nutritionist but not by professors) a kcal as a cal. I know a kcal hits us stronger but the fact remains that 145 cal is not really much (for a professor)...
1
>
Same can be said about fruit.
Once again Whole Foods is not a solution to your life.
Sugar is Sugar is Sugar
Burn more calories than you take in.
Stay under 1,800 calories a day; you'll not die.
Do not make food a fetish, but rather, an energy source.
The food industry is killing us.
3
Whole fruit also contains fiber, which slows absorption and mitigates the effects on insulin. Also, nobody is eating 6 apples a day, which is what it takes to make a glass of apple juice.
11
i agree. but why stop there. processed foods in general contain too much salt,sugar and fat.alot of this is driven by the media. commercials brainwash consumers. there has to be more awareness by the consumer. get informed read labels. do some basic researc when it comes into what you are putting into your body. fast food is horrble. we all know this. make informed choices when it comes to the foods we eat.
4
We have four different orange trees in the yard, one of the benefits of living in SOCAL. But 12 ounces of juice in a glass?! Try 2-4, with breakfast. Following a whole food plant based diet would mean giving up the juice, but we cheat a little since there is nothing like juice made from fruit right off the tree. And you have to keep in mind that what is good or bad for you is relative. Fruit is better than juice which is better than Coke. If you have a choice eat the fruit. If no fruit, drink juice, not Coke. This is all simple stuff, really. Dr. Michael Greger presents this well in his Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light view of healthy eating (nutritionfacts.org).
3
I was thinking the exact same thing!!! Who drinks 12 oz of OJ?! I have half a short glass - 3 sips - some mornings and it’s plenty. Typical America overindulging in literally everything.
2
What would be really helpful here is a chart showing how much sugar per ounce - and what kind of sugar - exists in fresh squeezed OJ, blender OJ, slow juicer OJ, bottled grocery store OJ, the frozen kind that slides out of the can and these “juice drinks” that are commonly 10% or less juice and mostly chemicals suspended in water.
8
Let me amplify this article. A 12 oz can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar, a 12 oz glass of OJ about 36 grams.
A normal body has about 4 grams of total sugar.
Blood sugar is tightly regulated (by insulin), which means it's important. Too much sugar and you die.
When you drink either OJ or Coke (note that Trump drinks 12 Cokes a day) you body is dosed with insulin to save your life.
And at the same time every one of your organs is also dosed with insulin, causing insulin resistance (as insulin receptors on your cells decrease in number).
After that you're one of the one in three people with Type-2 diabetes. So why would you let kids have OJ or Coke?
As an aside, I was sitting in a doctor's office some years ago and saw a chart on the wall that stated that 2 cans of Coke per day were allowed for kids 5 years old and under. Got into a loud discussion with the MD about that!
10
Trump does not drink regular Coke; he drinks only Diet Coke. (Such a disciplined guy!)
2
"Juice Is Not Healthy"
I think you mean "not healthful." If a juice isn't healthy then it should be hospitalized until it's health is restored.
22
So, if I drink orange juice not from concentrate, I fail to see where all those purported teaspoons of sugar come from. Are you saying they come from the natural fruit and that it therefore isn't healthy to eat oranges or drink their juice? If so, I beg to differ.
The fructose molecule cannot be metabolized except in your liver, where a little is OK, but a lot will give you NAFLD, hyperlipidemia, and other metabolic diseases. You would have to eat several apples or oranges to get the same sugar jolt/insulin bang in one small glass of juice. Fructose in actual fruit is conjugated to fiber and micronutrients that prevent those adverse effects.
9
Yes, the sugar is all natural. Eat whole fruit, with the sugar bound up with fiber that slows its absorption, and it’s fine.
8
An orange has 70 calories and 12 grams of sugar. An 8 oz glass of orange juice has 110 calories and 22 grams of sugar. It takes more than one orange to make a serving of juice. You are just throwing the fiber away.
It’s much more healthy to eat an orange with all that healthy fiber than to drink just the sugar and calories from the juice.
8
What the about cows milk ? It's loaded with sugar .
1
Fructose (fruit sugar) is metabolized differently from lactose (milk sugar). Fructose goes straight to your liver and begins making you sick with NAFLD, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and other metabolic syndrome diseases. Actual fruit doesn't have the same effect, because the fructose is conjugated to fiber and micronutrients.
10
Who drinks a 12-oz glass of . . . anything? let alone orange juice. Glasses are mostly 8-oz size or less, at least in the United States. I drink an occasional 6-oz glass of oj. Everything in moderation, isn't that the science?
4
When juices manufactured in the commercial processed fashion they are extremely unhealthy, as they often are made by the very same soda companies.
But in no way should we negate drinking juice made in the proper fashion. By juicing fresh organic vegetables and fruits ourselves the juice maintains vital natural enzymes and vitamins. Keep in the pulp for more fiber too.
5
No mention of smoothies here but they are different then juicing fruits and vegetables because the whole fruit and vegetable are used with no residual pulp waste. All the fiber is there it is just pulverized. I make them 4-5 times a week and usually use fruit that is seasonal, ginger, kale, spinach. I use a little cider or cold-pressed pineapple juice, and by little I mean 4-5 oz., topped off with water. I don’t like to drink straight juice but when I do it is mixed with filtered water. My mother never bought soda drinks for us or kept them around the house, she called water ‘Adam’s ale’. To this day I am a water drinker. I love the new flavored carbonated waters and keep those around as mid-afternoon treat.
When my kids were growing up the running argument with their dad was about Kool-aide and the incredible amount of sugar used to make it up, he was for it, me against. Fortunately, Jim Jones cyanide laced kook-aide punch party down Guiana ended that era, I never bought the stuff again. The emphasis should always be water. Kids don’t need sports drinks just because they are playing soccer and other sports, water will do. But, if they insist on them, make it a half and half combination. All that sugar and heat from exertion will only make them sick.
3
Yes, it is a good idea to watch our sugar consumption. America has a growing health concern for obesity and diabetes. It is not one item or another we consume on a daily basis that gets us in trouble health wise. It is the American diet, high fat, high salt, high sugar. Americans like to eat meals with a glass of soda or juice in front. Chinese and other Asians find this custom strange, in that sugar in soda covers up any other flavors in the food. Drinking tea before every new bite allows tasting food anew. Besides, Tea also carries healthful ingredients and also quenches thirst. And take your time to enjoy each bite!
1
Shouldn't the the title of this opinion piece be "Seriously, Fruit Juice Is Not Healthy"? In the mornings, I prefer a well-known brand of vegetable juice, but I still eat lots of vegetables later in the day.
1
The fruit in stores is way too expansive! We need subsidies for fruit .
2
Whenever I fly and the flight attendant asks for my order during the beverage service, I ask "what do you have to drink that doesn't have sugar or caffeine?" and then watch while they go through the whole list of beverages in their head and finally answer "water." America hydrates with poison (sugar) and drugs (caffeine). I flavor my filtered water at home with slices of cucumber, strawberries, a squirt of lemon juice, etc. And I always fill a stainless steel water bottle before I go out and take it with me. It's my contribution to fighting America's other toxic addiction, single-use plastic.
1
So...you're "making a statement" by taking it out on a low-paid and harried flight attendant? If you already know the answer, then please just ask for water, or bring your own bottle with you. Flying is unpleasant enough without other passengers feeling as if they need to "eduscold" the flight attendant.
12
Someone needs to answer this simple question: what about drinking a glass of juice made from 4 or 5 oranges immediately after squeezing it? Surely the vitamin C brings some benefits (not to mention the pleasure of drinking it sweetness and all) Of course bottled, canned, or boxed pre-made juice is sugary and without many benefits - that is not news.
How about a health article that's a bit more nuanced instead of this simplified clickbait?
I think the point is that there are ways to ingest Vitamin C that are lower in sugar. Instead of the sugar of 4 oranges and non of the fiber, just eat the one orange. Even better, stock up on green leafy vegetables to get the Vitamin C plus a whole lot more.
6
This article highlights, as do many of the comments, a chronic and troubling problem that I will pose as a question. Why do we let people who are trying to sell us something define what’s healthy and good? C'mon people.........don’t rely on the manufacturer, the paid for magazine article, the biased research, the optimized internet search, or the government agency (sadly and frustratingly often also paid for) for your info. Reach back to your basic biology education and decide for yourselves. A lot of simple sugar is bad. Juice has a lot of simple sugar, no matter what the apologists say. Eat whole fruits and vegetables and be happy and healthy. It’s fundamental.
5
I enjoy grape juice, but only after it’s been fermented.
10
Beating sugar out of drinks is like playing whack-a-mole. First beat on sodas, but people will move to 'healthy' juice, beat on juice, then they move to Starbucks or Gatorade to satisfy their desire for sugar. The food industry is giving people want they want. It would be nice if others didn't have to pay for the health consequences of excesses by some.
1
Consider that “fresh” Florida orange juice sits in vats so long before packaging that the vitamin C and other nutrients have to be added since they deteriorate with time.
I personally know a crop duster that sprays orange groves at least 13 times a year each.
3
This is just another screed from the Food Puritans, and should be taken with a few grains of organic soy sauce.
Everything we eat gets broken down into simple molecules that feed our muscles with energy or contribute to other life processes. Fruit sugars start a little further along the path, and a diet with too much sugar will cause the body to adapt in a way that interferes with other biological processes, but a glass of fruit juice by itself is nothing to be concerned about.
The real problem comes from the gratuitous sugars that manufacturers insist on putting into bread, tomato sauce, and other items that lead to a “sweetening” of people’s tastes, and a perpetual overload of sugar in their diets.
Children in daycare centers are far more at risk from deviously-sugared snacks like goldfish, animal crackers, and arrowroot biscuits. These are not perceived as “sweet foods”, but they shift children’s perceptions of what normal tastes like. A box of juice that is expected to be sweet causes far less harm.
2
I drink quite a lot of juice, and have for decades, and am no where near obese. When I did have a relatively small weight problem, it was from ice cream, pecan pies, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and worst of all, late night eating. I replaced those indulgences with fresh fruits, raw nuts, little rice, and bread, and emphasized morning and afternoon eating. I swim all the time, but dieting was the cure. I never, never, abstained from juice! And I won’t!!
6
If you become prediabetic, you will have to!
2
I very seldom purchase juice. The amount of sugar in the content is overwhelming. On the occasion that I drink the sugary drink, I dilute it half and half with water. It is too sweet and too strong. Disgusting stuff. Not healthy for certain.
3
Hear, hear! Finally the medical community is coming out against one of the great dietetic oxymorons of our time: Juice is not "healthy." It's just as bad as soda and other sugary drinks and contributes to the myriad health problems in our country.
4
You should see my 9th grade students' eyes bug out when I tell them this very thing. They all start shouting about how orange juice is for breakfast, and Gatorade and sports drinks are for everything else. Then when I ask them to back up why they think so, they can only mention what they see on TV.
And therein lies the rub- the industries market so heavily (it's not just for breakfast anymore!) to kids, families, and schools, that there's no way to get juice out of school lunches; apple, berry, and orange and always alongside other starches. We're educating minds and destroying bodies with this swill.
This to say nothing of the hidden sugars in milk...
2
My mother raised my brother and I on tv dinners and we turned out fine. We even bought some a few years back for gastronomic nostalgia.
Fresh squeezed OJ is one of life’s pleasures. At my last supper I’m looking forward to a yuge glass of blood orange juice.
2
Who cares?
Sedentary lifestyles, automobiles, and excessive portions are responsible for obesity.
Work on that.
3
Complex problems don’t have simple solutions. And an unhealthy population is everyone’s concern.
4
Nothing wrong with sugar! It's natural and tastes good.
2
Tobacco smoke is natural, too. Some say it also tastes good.
1
Nonsense, but lots of people are paid lots of money for the latest hype. When I was 21 I moved to Florida and discovered fresh, hand squeezed orange juice. Now that I'm in my late 80s I still hand squeeze one large glass of orange juice each and every day. I'm convinced that's part of why I remain in great health, physically and mentally.
What the nonsense sellers omit saying is more important than what they say. In the first place, the high tech oranges that they talk about are not the same as the ones I buy and squeeze. What the commercial juice factories squeeze are varietals with high water/high sugar content that insects wont eat and frost won't affect.
Secondly, comparing a glass of juice to a can of Coke is indicative of the classic shallowness of research hype. One doesn't drink 4 or 5 glasses of juice a day, but that much gas-filled sweet beverage drinks is common.
I don't drink any of the carbonated beverages and I've never heard of any research on the health effects of carbonation! I suspect the manufacturers of carbonated drinks keep that out of the news.
I've stayed in countries where the oranges are the still the old fashioned varieties. In fact, I'm in one as I write this. Neither their flavor nor nutritional value has anything to do with what comes out of the supermarket plastic containers that are also so often devoid of pulp.
And waving the flag of diabetes and other dread diseases borders on the impardonable. They left out heart attacks and AIDS.
2
"...One doesn't drink 4 or 5 glasses of juice a day, but that much gas-filled sweet beverage drinks is common..."
Actually, some kids are given that much juice because their parents think that it is healthier than water because of the vitamins, and some parents give it to kids instead of soda because they think it is healthier.
4
It's not just juice that's overloaded with sugar! Look at bottled tomato sauce, yogurt, granola, white bread! Read the labels of all manufactured foods, especially those that make health claims. Also, more of us should be looking not only at what affects our individual health, but also at what environmental problems can harm groups of us, especially as our President is reversing laws that affect our water and air quality.
2
As long as someone big profits off our less healthfull inclinations we are lost.
I am not a kid but I almost never drink juice for the reasons stated. A couple times a year I have a craving for grapefruit juice and indulge it. At home I keep a six pack of little cans of tomato juice, which I often want when I have a cold.
2
Let's see, my parents both lived to 96, had a glass of orange juice every morning.
Clearly something is wrong with these professors
6
Where does it say that one glass a day is harmful? The point here is that substituting juice for soda in the quantities normally consumed by kids is not healthier.
4
I remember (hopefully correctly!) from Biology 101 way back when that when you're young, this is the time when your body will start developing the number/quantity of fat cells.When you're an adult, your body tends to stop increasing the quantity of fat cells and instead, the existing fat cells will start to increase in size. So someone who has a higher number of fat cells will have a much harder time in losing weight as an adult. This is one reason why it's so important to eat right when you're a child.
Water is best (and free!) so see no reason why one should give children juice unless it's a treat, like giving candy.
4
The fruit juice aisle is populated with a significant collection of bottled juices that proudly proclaim "100%" in big, bold text. That text is usually as large or larger than any other on the label. But.... in small text, one sees ".... of daily requirement for vitamin C". Elsewhere the label states "contains 10% fruit juice". I stopped drinking 100% OJ years ago, although I really loved a 6 oz glass of it for breakfast. now I mix 2 oz of grapefruit juice with 8 oz of water. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
I like V8. just looked at the 5.5 oz can and it contains 5 gram sugar ( natural not added), which equates to about a teaspoon. More than I would have thought much much less than oj.
I think V8 has more healthy ingredients as well.
3
Excellent and timely information. Thanks for a great article!
3
Super-sized portions are part of the problem with fruit juice too. A while back I was looking for a new set of "juice glasses," 5 or 6 ounce things in which orange or tomato juiced was once served both at home and in restaurants. I found some from Italy; American glass makers apparently have little demand for such a small item. I remember when soda bottles held 8 ounces (20 oz. is now standard) and were reserved for special occasions. The problem is not with "what" we consume but "how much."
5
After burning memorial candles, the glasses are perfect for juice.
1
I took Julia Child’s advice when she said of a particular dish, “it’s not For everyday”. But a small glass of juice is delicious!
3
These 3 professors should concentrate more on how much time children are spending on their electronic devices then how much juice they drink.
If the kids are outside playing and burning up calories they will avoid obesity but if they're sitting in their bedrooms playing video games then yes they will blow up like a balloon.
2
You forget that you shape a child’s palate for life by their childhood foods. Does juice taste more like water or plain sparkling water, or like soda? Someday when they become largely sedentary office workers or injured on the job and no longer active, they’ll have an additional obstacle to overcome: a training of the palate to prefer sweet beverage over plain. Why not increase the odds that they will be happy eating plain and healthful foods? I am grateful every day for my parents’ choices regarding our childhood food environment.
1
You want the parents to get arrested for leaving their children unsupervised? I absolutely agree that should not be the case, but it is in many communities in the US these days.
For all the health madness there needs to be some balance. Life without the occasional indulgence is really not worth living. Keep drinking your juice once in a while in small doses (the way most people consume it anyway!). You’ll be fine.
5
For years I drank a 16 ounce bottle of orange juice at the office instead of coffee thinking I was doing something good for myself. I am now battling to reverse type 2 diabetes.
7
My husband used to stop at Jamba Juice every morning for his “breakfast” and is now diabetic.
5
Thank-you! It is really junk food.
I love it but use it sparingly- in the summer splashed into sparkling water.
2
I just squeeze my own oranges. Orange juice has vitamins which we all need. Just do not deprive yourself: eat and drink everything in moderation.
4
Gave up orange juice for red wine. All is good now.
8
So my 4 ounce glass of fresh squeezed unpasteurized orange juice I have every day with my vitamin pill is equivalent to 11.4 gallons per year, or nearly twice the average? And this 53 calorie dose which represents about 4% of my daily food intake is ‘dangerous’? So I should switch to mineral water? Really?
8
How about vegetable juice? No mention of that. I feel OK drinking V8. I wish there were more options like that available. The problem is all the sugar in most juice (or fake sugar, which is worse).
1
all juice is just sugar. Fruits have the most sugar when juiced. Vegetables have less sugar but it is all concentrated sugar. Just eat food.
1
Watch out for the salt (there is a low sodium variety).
1
Sorry but that article title is a bit of a troll. You know what's "not healthy" if you drink it all the time in quantity? Virtually everything -- except water.
I am having that very occasional glass of lemonade made from fruit juice because there is nothing quite like that on a hot day. I am thin and I also know that none of us will live forever no matter what.
13
@K Henderson:
"I am having that very occasional glass of lemonade..."
LOL! Hmmm, ok but truly this article is obviously not aimed at consumers like you. Its aimed at parents, teachers, caregivers, students, etc.
I mean a "very occasional glass" is the opposite end of the spectrum of whats being discussed here. The article repeatedly describes the long enduring - BUT FALSE - notion that drinking juice (or especially providing juice to children) regularly, i.e., EVERY DAY, is healthy. In truth, its detrimental to our health and dupes most people into consuming relatively extreme amounts sugar - 10 teaspoons of sugar!
This article is about illuminating the usual promulgated falsehoods and propaganda that push juice as some kind of healthy dietary addition. Lets be real - juice is a huge money-maker for mega-corporations like....wait for it....PEPSICO! who own Tropicana juice company outright.
No fiber, extremely limited vitamins or minerals, and tons of sugar!
C'mon, this is a no brainer.
2
Then you’re not the target of the article. That doesn’t make it irrelevant.
Technically not true. You can die from hyponatremia.
1
Dear Professors Cheng, Fiechtner, and Carroll,
I would not presume to contradict your concerns about sugar, though the temptation is there, what with the brain powered almost entirely by glucose, life itself made possible by plants turning sunlight to carbohydrates, yours truly subsisting for half a century on sugared espresso, Coca-Cola, pizza, pastries, and little else, with not a single diet study ever yielding lasting, conclusive results... but I digress.
By all means fill the tykes with lots of water; that's fine, I'll drink the soda they don't. But far more important - get them away from their screens and up on their feet.
Move more, eat less. Now seriously, there's a regimen that might change things, and it's mountaineer/martial artist approved.
Cordially,
S.A. Traina
56, and sugar-full
7
@Sal Anthony
"..yours truly subsisting for half a century on sugared espresso, Coca-Cola, pizza, pastries, and little else...with not a single diet study ever yielding lasting, conclusive results"
There are literally DECADES worth of hardcore, solidly proven and substantiated diet studies that illuminate the fact that eating: "coca-cola, pizza, pastries and little else" will lead to seriously detrimental health problems for the vast majority of humans. I mean, why not just feed that to toddlers and skip the vegetables, fruits, fiber, proteins, etc., altogether?
4
Well, I was being a bit playful, and yet the fact remains that 'serious study' after 'serious study' has proven NOTHING about what constitutes a healthy diet for me or you or this group or that.
A few years back, "the Rolls-Royce" of diet studies was done, costing half a billion dollars, following fifty thousand women for eight years (See Gina Kolata, NY Times, ""Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks") and what was most provocative about the result was that EVERYTHING the researchers were expecting to find was proven wrong.
So naturally folks tried to explain why if the study had "only been performed differently" then all would be well.
Perhaps. But perhaps we should look at all the wildly differing forms of nourishment living things are forced by circumstances or custom to consume with few consequences that weren't genetic to begin with.
A hundred years of study for creatures millions of years in the making should impress and convince no one, except for those already committed to beliefs spun entirely from thin air. Cotton candy, anyone?
Regards,
Sal
Part of the supposed "benefit" that people think they are getting from juice may be due to the fallacy that the more of a vitamin you get the better. You only need a certain (very small) amount of each which typically can be obtained from a fruit or small amount of juice.
6
Along with the point about why eating whole fruit is better than juice, it would be helpful to distinguish among juices. A lot of what is sold as "apple juice" or "grape juice" is basically water with corn syrup. On the other hand, drinking 4 tablespoons of unsweetened blueberry or cranberry juice a day helps prevent UTIs and is more convenient and less expensive than trying to eat a cup of raw blueberries or cranberries.
2
When I was little and would go to my friends’ house to play, I remember the stank eye I’d get from the parents when they tried to give me juice and I would politely decline and ask for water. Juice was a treat and a sort of status symbol too, I think. My mom never bought it because she said it was an unnecessary expenditure. I just preferred water.
8
As a retired dentist, it warms my heart to see such obvious truth preached from the mountaintops.
If you like apples, eat an apple.
Don't drink apple juice.
If you like oranges, eat an orange.
Don't drink orange juice.
I commend my pediatrician counterparts for their advice. I would add that other pediatricians now tell their young charges and their parents to have at most a Dixie cup of fruit juice per day. This is a very easy way to understand that you should keep your fruit juice diet to a minimum.
15
Those companies that sell juices are wising up. They are now beginning to sell the remnants of their juice products to companies which separately market the those discarded remnants as prebiotics....the fiber we need to keep our gut healthy.
1
Thank you so much for this article. It is greatly needed. I wish my son's daycare, school and summer camp would not serve juice. (Incidentally, the portions have greatly increased since I was a tot. We were each served a minuscule amount in a dixie cup. Now the kids have juice boxes and can take as many as they like.)
9
I’m surprised that any day care centers or summer camps serve juice to children. I am sorry to tell you this, but I think it is not a good sign. Daycare centers and summer camps should be up to date nutrition-wise. When my 10-year-old was in daycare, they did not serve juice at all with the exception of occasional events, when parents might bring watered down “kids” juice. Her summer camp serves Gatorade in very limited amounts (only after two cups of water, and a maximum of two cups of Gatorade) only when they are outside for an extended period of time since it is often in the high 90s and 100s here.
4
I want to publicly thank the Coca-Cola Company for discontinuing Diet Coke with Lime.
I admit it, I was a Diet Coke with Lime junkie, often drinking half-a-dozen cans a day. Aluminum cans overflowed in my recycling bins. I never touched a drop of water. Why would I, when I could pop the top and taste the wonderful chemical-y taste of Diet Coke with Lime effervescing in my mouth?
Oh, I'd tried to quit. Sure, I'd tried, enduring the inevitable headaches and irritability, but, somehow, I'd always come back. Even after a 3-week stint in India, with not a Diet Coca-Cola (of any sort) in sight, I ran right to the grocery store immediately after deplaning to grab a 12-pack.
When I realized that Diet Coke with Lime was gone, really gone, I quit. Hallelujah and pass the mustard! Whew! I went through the week of headaches, and there's no going back, simply because there is no such thing as Diet Coke with Lime anymore. That bridge was burned, totaled, finito.
Think of the health benefits! Think of the money in my pocket and not Coke's. Yay!
Water. Really. Unflavored, unadulterated water. That's where it's at.
16
These authors do not make a distinction between bottled/boxed juices and fresh-squeezed. Is there a difference in the sugar content of boxed orange juice and fresh-squeezed?
5
No, there is no difference whatsoever between fresh squeezed and bottled/boxed 100 percent orange juice. But there is a big difference between the whole fruit (which contains fiber) and the juice. So nix the juice and have a piece of orange instead.
16
Another good article. Always get back to reminding me, our American diet is intertwined with sugar and salt. If food companies mess with either as an ingredient when processing, folks notice it. My small example would be compare the taste of low sodium V8 to salty V8. I quit V8 all together. If I cannot enjoy the occasional coke, why bother with a low sugar substitute I just don't drink coke anymore. Food labels are designed to be so complicated, most folks don't bother to read anymore.
4
Moderation in eating and drinking plus good "genes" seem to me to be the main factors in staying healthy. Re genes one has no choice but one can make efforts that their kids develop healthy eating habits early. Keep the junk out of the house as much as possible. Limiting fruit juice makes sense to me.
2
40% of American adults are obese? That is a shocking statistic. When I was a child, in the 50s and 60s, I can recall one classmate who was obviously obese, and the scuttlebutt was that she suffered from some sort of "glandular disorder". Nowadays it's more the reverse - the skinny kid stands out. We've come a long way in so many ways. And, sadly, many of them are not so good. The "m" words come to mind - moderation and movement. But certainly not "more".
9
Have you visited your local Walmart lately?
Having said that, I'm getting ready for my weekly Weight Watchers meeting, right before church. I did 8 miles on my bike this morning, so I'm feeling pretty righteous.
Still, it's a struggle.
I'm with you Michael. Grew up in the 40's and 50's with same classmates, some of us meet to this day, and always remark," we cannot remember any fat classmates".
2
When I go the supermarket, and see people who are so obviously overweight, with their children, also obviously overweight, and glance into their carts and see bottle upon bottle of juice of one kind or another, as well as soda pop, so called "health drinks" along with piles of carbohydrates, I have no other explanation for their condition than the items in their grocery cart, most of which are highly promoted on television, in magazines, or by the "nutrition experts" at the local schools.
We, as members of American society are constantly bombarded with advertisements encouraging the consumption of such "foodstuffs" which do nothing more than increase our weight and waistlines. Something to think about the next time you see a person or persons who take up half the aisle in front of you with the results of their insatiable appetite for sugar.
6
Oh, they do something more. They create enormous profits for the food conglomerates.
1
This is an informative article. It seems these pediatricians worried about children’s health. Whether you should drink eat or not will based on your personal evaluation such as what do you need, how does your body observes.
1
No sugar. No grains. No starch. No vegetable oil. No fruit juice. Lemons, Limes, Berries, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Avocados, Olives only fruits. Green leafy vegetables only. Nuts/Meats/Seafoods preferably organic and local. How to put Type 2 Diabetes into remission and maintain sustainable weight loss.
20
Good advice, except for the “organic and local” part ... no scientific support for that.
1
Sounds like fun.
I am old enough to remember times when respectively eggs, butter, salt, and bread were bad for us, while tobacco, wine, and margarine were good. My point is that all these medical researcher types is abut are research grants, publications, and notoriety; they don't know anymore now then they did 50 years back. The so-called medical research industry in this country is for hire. Just like every other industry we used to put our trust in: judiciary, medicine, and financial services...
5
It’s fair to be cynical about medical research and most important to think about it sensibly and not be swayed by studies that make no sense, advertisements that are designed to sell and recommendations that fly in the face of historical needs. Until I see cartons of juice growing on trees outside commercials there is no reason to think juice and fruit are the same. Anything other than water and milk have to be justified, not just proven wrong.
2
Agree. Best book I ever read, my two noted Physicians was, Reversing Medical guidelines. These Doctors theme was, Americans need evidence based trails before just adopting medicines and procedure's that say, this should work. Same with processed food stuffs. No eggs now eggs are okay, eat margarine now butter is better.
Milk Aja’s to be justified as well. No adult animal out there consumes milk, but humans.
Whether you drink sugar enhanced or natural Sugar laced juices or sodas, it all stimulates insulin production.. Insulin is what makes us fat.
The sugar beverage industry has lulled many overweight people into thinking their, multiple daily juice and soft drink hits are providing energy to get through the day.
Where in reality it is stimulating two effects, a craving for more sugary drinks and fat producing insulin.
10
Using the numbers in the article, 6.6 gallons of juice per year delivers about 12,670 calories per year. Minimum daily requirements of calories for adults are about 2000, or 730,000 calories per year. Juice is 1.7% of calories, doesn't sound like the obesity culprit to me.
6
Many of the people who drink more juice end up taking in more calories because of the insulin spike and the same or worse happens when diet fluids are taken but even worse because the drinks don’t provide the sugar that the body anticipates. The extra calories are a problem but the focus on calories may make it even worse.
@Dam1
"Minimum...requirements of calories for adults are about ...730,000 calories per year"
A 9" round chocolate cake has 4225 calories.
So if I eat 173 chocolate cakes each year I'm good to go?
Smoking a cigarette has 8 calories. So if I smoke 21,625 cigarettes each year I'm good to go right?
Right?
4
The article says 6.6 gallons for adults, in same paragraph says kids average 10 oz per day. That works out to 28.5 gallons/yr. So kids are drinking 4.4 times more juice, and the authors feel it is not good for kids.
There may be bigger obesity factors for kids, but it would help to cut back on juice.
Sucrose [table sugar] is half glucose and half fructose.
Many fruits and therefore fruit juices are high in pure fructose.
Glucose and fructose are metabolized differently by the body.
Some people have trouble absorbing fructose and others have trouble metabolizing fructose.
High amounts of fructose can have deleterious effects in normal people.
3
Giving children flavored and/or sweetened drinks to quench thirst conditions their taste buds to expect sweetness with drinks. Better to give them water no artificial sweetener or flavors. Just plain water. Fruits ought to be consumed in their natural form, with pulp. It is hard to eat all the oranges or apples that would be used to produce a 10 oz glass of juice. That automatically cuts on the calories and also increases fiber intake.
14
Bravo! My husband, an eminent endocrinologist/internist and geneticist, has been telling his patients this for years.
11
It may be true that for children, juice is a "gateway" drink to colas, though it wasn't in my case. I wish I'd actually been given more juice and less milk as a child - as there are as many if not more serious problems associated with giving kids copious amounts of milk. (Probably happens less now.) The flip side is, I only drank water for many years as an adult, so that I was woefully deprived of fun drinks, and now I am irremediably addicted to apple juice. Not sure I care. There's worse than that.
4
I have been saying for years that a glass of fruit juice is basically a Snickers bar. When friends tell me that they're "juicing" and using kale, garlic, ginger, etc I respond that I'm eating those foods WHOLE, so I am getting all the fiber and my body will have to work to extract the nutrients (and the sugar), so my sugar levels will not spike. I agree that juicing does make one feel full and give you an instant "lift" but that is the sugar rush, I believe, and not your body reacting to nutrients and vitamins.
11
@Ingrid. Juicing kale, garlic, ginger isn't going to give you the same sugar content as juicing just apples, beets or oranges.
1
Sh, that may be true. But by juicing vegetables, you are missing out on a lot of fiber. I may be old fashioned, but it seems like less work, healthier, less wasteful, and less expensive to eat whole vegetables.
2
Good article. My kid hated juice and never drank it. But I swear by my three ounces of orange juice with a tablespoon of nutritional yeast mixed in as an energy boost.
7
Can't stand the taste of sweetened drinks (not soda, coffee, tea or OJ); but maybe 2 or 3 times per year I get an overwhelming craving for grapefruit juice - no other kind of juice will do - and will chug-a-lug a half gallon in one go. (Will eat grapefruits too, when in season).
5
Drinking juice is directly because of marketing and lobbying, period. It’s big business, and a product created from an idea: sell it to moms so their kids will have ‘natural’ and ‘pure’ drinks. Images of golden oranges on beautiful trees, hand-picked because we care about you and your family.
Just you watch the pushback from industry on this article. It will be intense and it will try and spin directly away from the facts that are listed.
Sugar = money in the beverage industry.
12
Seriously, these advisories against consuming ANYTHING other than pre-digested cardboard and thrice-boiled water are beginning to put a crimp in my quoits game, largely from disgust.
11
I've never agreed with a thing Luettgen has written but I'm agreeing with this comment. Apparently, at this moment in history, juice has become bad for us. Until it is good for us. Until it is bad for us again.
Personally, I'll just stick with my bottled barley and hops juice.
1
I drink fruit juice, usually in the form of a spritzer (half juice, half seltzer). I also occasionally drink sodas (cane sugar, not those godawful artifically sweetened ones) — on average, less than three a week — and hard cider. Why? Because I enjoy them.
4
Article is spot on, but many readers’ comments reflect lack of understanding. Juice is bad - it doesn’t need “added sugar” to make it bad; it is already chock full of sugar, in effect that’s all that there is. Drinking green juice is not healthy either, because it lacks fiber, and will go through your system very quickly, and not provide sustaining energy. All simple carbohydrates (like sugar, and those from white flour and white rice) are bad for you. Complex carbs and whole fruits (almost all, with the exception of grapes and some others) are good.
11
I drink No Sugar added Orange juice daily. I do NOT drink Cokes or other carbonated beverages. I have never drank sports drink. I also exercise strenuously DAILY, my exercise would be deemed crazy by those who don't exercise regular. This AM I did over 300 chinups, 120 pushups and some 2K running.
I do love raw fruit and raw veggies along with baked or boiled fish and poultry. I know that the doctors have the training but good sense says added sugar is bad, natural is not. I do not take any drugs other than mild sleepers, my mind does not like to turn off for long.
My thought is "Don't give raw natural juice a bad rap, give that to the added sugar and other junk.
6
That “no sugar added” orange “juice” may actually contain other added sweeteners (natural or artificial) if it’s that 50 calorie junk.
The juice you drink is already basically all sugar, whether there is “added sugar” or not.
1
All juices are not created equal. Fresh pressed fruit and vegetable juices contain valuable nutrients and are hydrating. Why doesn't this article address the difference between fresh and processed juices?
16
I understand how squeezing the juice out of a fruit (as in orange juice) would mean you are not getting the fiber of the fruit. However, I’m not clear on how (or if) using a Vitamix, for example- in which the whole fruit or vegetable is pulverized- would reduce either the vitamin or fiber content of the fruit. Can someone explain ?
14
How many oranges or apples do you use to make 8 oz glass of juice? Can you eat that many apples or oranges in place of that glass of juice? If the answer is yes, then there is no differeence between juice and whole fruit.
2
Using a vita mix in that manner creates a smoothie, which uses the whole fruit or vegetable (including fiber). Juicing means you extract the juice from the fruit or vegetable without consuming the whole fruit.
2
I would think it’s fine. I also don’t consider that juice, but personally call them smoothies. (Love my Ninja!—it’s the only way my 6 year old will eat anything besides carrots and apples.)
I gave up juice in the 1990s - I have a glass of fresh orange juice maybe once a year. Water, tea, coffee, milk....
3
A recent study contradicts the authors:
published in journal of Nutritional science (Dec 15 2017) it claims that juice consumption does not increase fasting glucose, insulin or HgA1C. This was a randomized study!
I assume it is flawed but the abstract is convincing. According to the authors consuming 100% fruit juice also does NOT predispose to diabetes or weight gain!
A 2014 study shows also no negative impact...
8
I'm VERY curious about this. I'd like to see some studies that get at the basis of things. I just read most of the study you mentioned. Unfortunately it leaves me with a lot of questions.
"A variety of juices was provided as test beverages across the studies and the types and concentrations of some bioactives in fruit juice vary across fruit juice type."
Really? ALL juices have the same effect or no attempt was made within this meta-study to identify differences? I have doubts that pasteurized filtered apple juice is as much like an apple as fresh squeezed, pulpy orange juice is like an orange, to give one simple example. And of course there's the issue of comparing apples and oranges.
"the study populations were generally overweight or obese individuals... the study populations also represented a variety of health states including healthy, diabetic, hypertensive/pre-hypertensive..."
I'm concerned that the health status of individuals may affect the way they absorb the sugar and nutrients of juices. It seems to me study participants should be segregated based on BMI and health status.
I'd like to see a VERY simple study. Give the participants of one group a 4 ounce glass of orange juice, an apple, and a banana and have them eat it. Then measure their blood glucose over the next several hours.
With the second group do the exact same quantities, but blend the fruit in a Vitamix and have them drink it. Then track blood glucose.
Is there a difference?
10
@Crispy-
Statistical studies suggest adult-onset Type-2 Diabetes is associated with high levels of outdoor air pollution and ingestion of contaminants like titanium dioxide.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180630153740.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620125907.htm
Juice is largely sugar, separated from pulp and fiber that at least serve to fill you up in the form of whole fruits. I have never understood the purported health benefits of juices and smoothies. Blenders, Nutribullets, Vitamixes and the like seem to be calorie concentrators for a population that has no lack of access to energy sources.
12
I frequently toss a whole carrot or a handful of kale leaves into my Vitamix along with my fruit. These are 2 things I normally find rather difficult to eat on their own. But blended in I find them very palatable. Consequently I am eating (drinking) more of the healthy fresh foods I should be consuming. It's definitely a net benefit. It also helps me to feel full without resorting to a lot of empty carbohydrates, which I turn towards too readily.
If I put a few ounces of orange juice, a whole apple and a banana in my Vitamix and blend it and drink it, it's virtually exactly the same as if I drank the OJ and ate the fruit. Nutritionally there is no difference. All the fiber and other nutrients are there along with the sugar. There may be a few minutes difference in the time it takes for my body to absorb the sugar, but not enough to cause a significant difference in my blood sugar levels in the hours immediately following my meals.
Squeezing the juice from an orange and discarding the pulp is a different issue entirely and shouldn't be confused with what I described above.
The simple act of blending in a Vitamix does not destroy the fiber content. That destruction requires heat or the action of digestion.
for more detail:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/548978-does-fruit-lose-its-nutritiona...
8
No one has mention grapes, which have been bread to be little bags of sugar.
A huge problem is that our fruit has been bred to be very sweet, which has implications for glycemic load. Juicing just exacerbates the problem.
9
Really? I find when I buy fresh strawberries, blueberries or other berries, I have to mix them with powdered sugar, because they're so bland.
3
Since I started buying only organic, I haven’t had bland berries of any sort. It helps, of course, that I’m in San Diego...
2
There’s a difference between sugar and flavor though. A lot of modern fruit has had the flavor bred right out of it - partly as a result of breeding for traveling and shelf life. Some of it seems to be marketing to (and creating?) consumer desire for bland and sugary - grapes come to mind. Strawberries often just plain taste unripe. Adding cinnamon can provide some flavor interest to many fruits without adding more sugar.
1
The juice from a single orange or other fruit is plenty and should suffice. But when drinking a glass, you’re consuming the juice (sugar) of possibly around half a dozen oranges or apples.
Nearly all of the juices on shelves have also been flash pasteurized so they retain no nutritional value. They’re just glasses of empty, sugary calories.
It’s best to get in the habit of quenching your thirst with water. If you crave some juice, go for it. But not because you’re thirsty, because you want to enjoy it.
16
Many commercial clear juices have all pulp and fibre removed, but when I make juice, squeezed or blended, the juice is full of pulp and thus fibre. And you can buy "cloudy" juice with pulp. Also, I don't think blending "destroys" fibre in any nutritional sense. Just makes the bits smaller. Micro fibre.
6
Actually, blending does change the nature of the fiber as the benefit of fiber includes the effort the body puts into breaking down the fiber. So while there is no huge crisis if you occasionally blend a piece of fruit, the act of chewing and digesting large pieces of fiber, also has benefits. Technically, blended foods aren't the same as it's intact version.
17
Everything you say may be true. But I wish all these learned articles would stop assuming that everyone is overweight or about to be. As a kid, I was really skinny, and wanted to gain weight. Now I am at about the weight I want to be at, and eat a lot of things these articles tell me not to. If I feel like I'm getting too skinny, there's Haagen-Dazs Toasted Coconut Caramel or anything chocolate.
I am not saying food/drinks with sugar are healthy, as sugar has other negative properties, just that whoever writes articles that start with alarm bells like "obesity affects 40% of adults" should realize that it doesn't affect 60% of adults. Just do the math.
7
The 40% who classify as obese does not include the additional 25-30% who are classified as overweight but not (yet) obese. Even if you disagree with the classification criteria, to say 60% of people are not affected by obesity is not at all accurate.
12
I get your point that everyone is not overweight. But the sad reality is that America's obesity has rate has gone from around 10% in 1960 to over 37% today and the increase has been worse in children. So there's a justifiable concern and reason for plenty of attention.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db219.htm
2
Haagen-Dazs Toasted Coconut Caramel?? Woah. I gotta get back in the ice cream aisle!
2
According to the milk and OJ cartons in my fridge, the milk contains 12 grams and the OJ 24 grams of sugar per cup (240ml).
4.2 grams makes an official "teaspoon", but the actual teaspoons most of us use hold about 6 grams of sugar.
I like to do the mental conversion when I'm reading labels. 6 grams of sugar is equivalent to one of my real teaspoons.
I see people in the grocery store buying these HUGE containers of soda. What are they? 64 ounces? I have no clue because I don't drink the stuff. I use a little OJ in my smoothies. A 4oz glass of fresh OJ at breakfast is a treat.
MODERATION (in all caps of course)
This is too good not to share:
https://www.theonion.com/coca-cola-introduces-new-30-liter-size-1819564066
8
I much prefer 9-ounce bottles of soda, because I can't drink more than that in one sitting, but the irony is that the two-liter bottles don't cost that much more.
Why do we all miss the message of moderation? A small amount of juice, sorbet or ice cream is fine. In fact, a small amount of anything (food/drinks, that is) is fine. The problem is that Americans eat/drink in quantity, not quality. I have a small glass of grapefruit juice every morning - I have no weight issues. Savor and enjoy what you eat/drink and don’t overdo it. I’m tired of the food/drink police.
26
One good option for kids is to dilute 100% juice with water, say 50-50. We do that with Bolthouse or Naked green juice, which looks gross but tastes great! There is very little sugar in diluted 100% juice, and the kids love it. Way more interesting & flavorful than all water, all the time - life’s too short for that.
14
A better option is to give the kids whole fruit! Many kids will not acquire a taste for juice unless they are served it somewhat often. Last night, my 10-year-old and I talked about this article. She said she doesn’t like fruit juice and prefers whole fruits. Then she gobbled up the mango I served her.
1
I love orange juice at breakfast, but I compromise by mixing it, half and half, with bubbly water. Yum. I can‘t even really drink plain juice anymore - it‘s too sweet for me now.
17
Does anyone recall those tiny little juice glasses from yesteryear? That's about the amount an adult should have as a daily serving. Now all 'juice drinks' like Snapple and Nantucket Nectars, Arizona Ice Teas, etc. are in these giant 20 oz. bottles.
Juice 'drinks' are also the culprit, worse than just juice.
47
I have a nice set of 4 ounce glasses in my kitchen. I rarely drink more than 1 of those. Drink good quality juice and savor it. No need to gulp. If I've been out working in the hot sun and I'm terribly thirsty I cut the thirst with water first, then take time to ENJOY the juice.
21
I don't often drink juice, but when I do, it's usually with rum.
211
I strongly believe that fermented grape "juice," is good for you, red white, dry rose, and with bubbles. I drink a lot of it from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia (till they started the egregious refugee jailing,) Argentina and some from California :)
To accompany this excellent fermented grape juice, I east various cheeses. These milk products from cows and sheep, I have heard is also good for the body.
Other than this and these last few months since November 2016, I also function best with rage, frustration and the state of our civil liberties. I don't sleep much, but it is a small sacrifice...
128
Cheese is overrated and I have never heard it referred to as a health food. It's best to follow nature's path. When our mother's quit lactating, it's nature's way of saying that our days of enjoying dairy are over.
1
You do understand that when grape juice is fermenting, the sugar is being consumed in the process? A good dry wine should be virtually free of any sugar. A dessert wine uses more mature grapes (e.g. Moscato) will retain some of its sweetness. One (8 oz.) glass of wine for an adult who is not pregnant or nursing likely improves health. Two glasses means that you'll break even. Anything beyond that means you'll risk hypertension, increased triglycerides, increased liver enzymes.
So a glass of wine is significantly better than a glass of juice, up to a point. A small piece of brie on a small piece of sourdough bread should slow the processing of the alcohol. Cheese and bread will do nothing for juice.
In any case, I rarely drink juice or soda in years. Both make me nauseous. Too much sugar!
1
I can't fathom why anyone would drink orange juice when they could eat oranges. I do AirBnB and most of my guests seem to live on cold cereal, juices, and 'smoothies'. Many come with their own mini-blenders for grinding up fruits and vegetables into juices and 'smoothies'. And they're very self-righteous and pious about it thought I have yet to get any clear explanation about why these 'smoothies' are healthier than just plain eating fruits and vegetables, which one can actually enjoy eating. I'm just curious about where this whole juice/smoothie thing started.
38
A blender is not the same as a juicer. When you blend fruit for a smoothie, all the fiber remains. When you juice, there's no fiber. HUGE difference.
4
I enjoy fresh fruit and I enjoy homemade smoothies. I have a Vitamix. A good smoothie blend can be really refreshing, a different kind of satisfaction than a single piece of fruit or a mushy fruit salad.
This one I make regularly: about 4oz OJ, so that there's some liquid to start with, a whole banana, a whole apple, a small handful of frozen blueberries (gives it a refreshing coolness on a hot day), another piece of fruit that's in season (peaches right now), and a scoop of protein powder.
I start with an inch of it in my glass, stir in a heaping teaspoon of psyllium husk, which is super high in fiber (has helped to keep my blood pressure level under control, by the advice of my doctor) and guzzle that fast, before the psyllium thickens. The juice helps me swallow it much better than just plain water. Then I enjoy the rest of my tall glass of juice. The recipe above makes about 2 16 ounce glasses.
When I feel I need an extra dose of self-righteousness I toss in a handful of kale leaves, but that's only rarely.
1
A - just so there's no confusion, high speed blenders such as a Vitamix, which some people refer to as a juicer, do NOT remove or damage the fiber. Everything that was in the fruit that you put in the container ends up in what you drink.
The "juicers", where you smush (sorry, don't know the technical terminology) the orange half over the ridged bulb thing DO leave most of the fibrous material behind. So a lot of the nutrients as well as fiber get left behind.
Regarding the Vitamix, it's a myth that high speed blending somehow destroys the fiber. That's been proven.
NOT the kind of "juicer" you want to use:
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/prepara-reg-glass-juicer/...
Like much "dietary" advice from nutritionists and similar, it's over stated. I don't think many kids drink 12 oz. of OJ for breakfast. I have about 4 oz of OJ each morning, usually one egg, toast and coffee (with, heaven forbid, a teaspoon of half and half.). If every kid had a similar breakfast, they'd be well prepared for school, and it's probably a better breakfast than most have (although my kids did). Children can skip the coffee and have milk, whole milk, not skim, which I consider a crime agains humanity.
14
First I would drink a glass of orange juice every morning.
Then as years went on I drank half a glass and diluted it with water.
Now I just drink the water. No juice of any kind (and no carbonated beverages).
However, my 95 year old mother starts every morning with a glass of orange juice and has done do for decades. Does not seem to hurt her.
Moderation is the key - and luck.
24
The pediatricians are being pedantic. Firstly they do not clearly distinguish between the sugar-added fruit drinks commonly available in groceries and juice processed directly from the fruit (containing the pulp) and immediately available for consumption. Nor do they mention the word organic, which automatically should delete the chronic health effects of pesticides and biocides. Secondly, they suggest no alternatives for liquids with meals. According to their logic, since fruit juice and sodas are out, then water & milk are the only liquid that kids should consume with meals.
The wise parent always reads the labels and buy foods, including organic juices, that have no sugar added, come with pulp, are fresh with no preservatives, choose a variety of juices, such as banana, strawberry, and tropical fruits. The alternatives are odious (coke and other sodas are acidic and can be used as toilet bowl cleaners, so what does that do for your guts?).
13
You completely missed the point of this article. It’s not just added sugar that’s a problem and it’s not because the juice isn’t organic. The problem is that juice has too much sugar. Period.
162
Kat - 8 ounces of milk has the same sugar as 4 ounces of OJ. It's all about how much you drink. A cup of milk in a child's cereal bowl is the same as a 4 ounce glass of OJ next to it.
You couldn’t eat as many (oranges) or pieces of fruit that it would take to turn into a glass of juice. Also The sweet in fruit is the evolutionary ploy to tempt you into eating it to put on weight for winter. The best part of fruit is the fiber which nurtures the microbiome not the juice.
Fruit (fructose) spikes triglyceride formation in the liver also.
Are freshly made fruit juices at home are equally unhealthy?
What if I do not add sugar ?
6
Basically yes. There's still a ton of sugar in fruit juice. To make a glass of OJ, you use sugar from 5 oranges away and throw away the pulp (fiber). If you keep the fiber it's slightly better. Ideally, you'd use mostly vegetables with their fiber and a tiny bit of fruit to lightly sweeten it. Even so carrots have a lot of sugar. Unfortunately most juice is loaded with sugar, even the homemade kind.
17
For healthful juice, use mostly green veggies and use one carrot or a few slices of apple to sweeten the juice.
4
Eat fruit instead because if you drink juice, you lose the fibrous content.
1
Thank you for this article.
Now how about an article about how the caramel coloring in Coke, Pepsi, etc. is carcinogenic? This information was released several years ago, but it appears that the soft drink industry are still using the ingredient. AND it appears they're covering the information up.
Looking forward to this article.
18
Disclosure: I grew up on an orange grove in Orange County, CA. So yes, I drank a lot of orange juice as a child [I also sometimes got up at 2:00 in the morning to help light the "smudge pots" - hey, doesn't every 10 year old do that?] I am now 75 years old, 5' 9", 175 lbs. Not thin, but not exactly obese either. So drinking a lot of orange juice does not necessarily make you fat as an adult. OK, so it might be a contributing factor for some people. And I admit I now cut my "not from concentrate" bottles of OJ 50% with water. The taste is not as great, but nothing matches fresh squeezed OJ from freshly picked Valencia [pronounced "valincha" by those who grew them] oranges.
21
"So drinking a lot of orange juice does not necessarily make you fat as an adult. OK, so it might be a contributing factor for some people."
I think the key words in this comment are "not necessarily" and "might be a contributing factor". For many people, it is a contributing factor in being fat.
And it is not just about being fat. There is also the risk of diabetes which I understand is a growing health issue for many people.
We know that the incidence of obesity and diabetes is increasing. And we know why: sugar. Why not take good advice.
8
In my family my generation is the first that did not engage in physically strenuous farming. I see in my parents, and photos of my grandparents and ancestors how slim they all were.
My generation is definitely significantly heavier.
Of course, my farming ancestors faced a lot of other health issues. An uncle died from polio at a young age, etc. But I believe the hard physical work probably helped their health a lot. I know I would definitely benefit from more.
3
That’s a great story but it pales in comparison to the tragic epidemic of diabetes that is raging across this country.
Commonly available Low sodium vegetable juice blends as well as pure vegetable juice such as tomato are indeed healthful.
Some health food stores sell no added sugar blends of beet, carrot, spinach with added turmeric or ginger.
9
Can someone explain how squeezing an orange adds sugar to the orange. I don't understand.
7
Two ways: first, when you juice the orange you separate it from the fiber in the fruit, making an equivalent amount of actual juice have a greater impact on blood sugar volatility because the sugar is absorbed faster in the abscence of the fiber. Blood sugar volatility is linked to more intense hunger, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Second, when was the last time you ate four oranges in a sitting? But u can drink four oranges worth of juice in 30 seconds. The juice is denser in sugar for the volume compared to orange slices. You’re welcome.
92
It is the extraction of the juice from the other bulk of the orange - namely the fiber - which increases its glycemic impact on blood sugar levels. An orange eaten "whole" (not juiced) results in a slower rise in blood sugar than drinking its juice. True for all fruits and their juices. Even vegetable juices. Fiber mitigates the spiking of blood sugar. Google "glycemic index" to get a sense of which foods, beyond juices, are also problematic in terms of their impact on blood sugar. Basically if you go with whole, unprocessed foods you are better off. Whole wheat flour vs. white flour, brown rice vs. white rice, etc., etc., Best to minimize all of that and potatoes, corn too. The fruits and vegetables we eat today are not the same as your grandparents - or their grandparents. Hybridization has increased their available sugar. And your grandparents got an orange at christmas because it was a rare treat.
34
FYI for a diabetic 2, half a banana or half an orange constitutes a "serving"in terms of raising blood sugar. Obviously, one squeezed orange does not add sugar --- but three squeezed oranges to fill the glass are three oranges' worth of sugar. ( A diabetic is allowed 4ish units of sugar per meal. Bread, potato, even milk can count.)
1
I can't understand how juice manufacturers still manage to get away with putting so much sugar in their drinks. This seems to be a worldwide problem. Here in Brazil the situation is the same, but somewhat surprisingly (to me, at least), I find it more difficult to find juices without added sugar in the United States, when visiting the country, than here.
5
Beverages labeled as juice contain no added sugar at all. The point of the article is that juice WITHOUT added sugar is still full of calories and the sugar that was found in the juice.
77
Thanks to the authors for mentioning SNAP and similar childhood nutrition programs. The allowances are very meager for protein foods and fresh produce, yet including alarming juice and juice drink benefits. It's a scandal noticed by few.
70
SNAP can be used to purchase as much protein and fresh vegetables as one can. There is no requirement that one purchase juice.
4
I gave up juice entirely a long while back after learning about it's sugar content. And got rid of the Juice Man juicer!
10
Thank you for this article.
In European countries, fruit is often a dessert. When my son was young, many of my friends (not me) were giving their children apple and grape juice thinking they was healthy. Apple and grape juice are so sweer that they are often used as a "healthy" sugar replacement in other beverages. Even flavored seltzer water, which many people believe is healthy, can vary from sweetened by these fruit juices to no sweetener at all - and people don't look to see the difference.
7
As kids growing up in the 60’s, we (everyone I knew) drank a lot of soda and juice, koolaid, lemonade all day long-all of it heavily sweetened, we ate all the processed foods of the time and lots of candy and sweets. Obesity was rare and diabetes very rare. But we were very active. I agree that juice is not good for kids but wonder about other factors that may be affecting metabolism, because juice and sweets alone can’t be the culprit.
142
No one is saying juice is the only culprit. But it is like mainlining sugar water. Juice is just another easy way to consume lots of empty, usually unneeded, calories quickly.
Juice should be considered medicine for underweight or sick people who are, say, getting over food poisoning, not a healthy beverage for someone at or above normal BMI.
7
You hit it on the nail. Kids are no longer active. Kids can’t play outside all day unsupervised and because of video games and smart phones.
It's called HFCS(High Fructose Corn Syrup). That's the big difference. Infants fed baby formula rather than breast milk become obese some developing diabetes. Baby formulas are loaded with HFCS.
During the Reagan era, Nestle's, major producer and supplier of infant formula asked, no demanded that the USA withhold funding to UNICEF because doctors in Africa were refusing to feed said formulas to infants. The malnurished infants were getting sick and dying.
What's a baby dying in comparison to a corporate bottom line.
In Flint, Michigan and thousands of towns in the USA, a glass of fresh squeezed or blender made juices is much healthier (and safer) than the tap water.
42
Healthier as in no lead? Sure. But the (high) sugar content puts kids at heightened risk for Type 2 Diabetes.
Let's not be ok with people in Flint "at least drinking juice!!". They deserve better.
2
I do not ingest anything that could not be found in nature 10,000 years ago. That would include most of the sugars added to processed today. Our ancestors were hunter gatherers tens of thousands of years. This is our evolutionary history. This is what works.
6
Fruit certainly existed 10,000 years ago, and people certainly ate it. It was also entirely possible to squeeze it.
19
Fruit 10,000 years ago was very different from the hybridized versions we have today, Elene. Think small, sour, and not very juicy. Their job was to perpetuate their species and not to fill stone age goblets. And were available with extreme rarity for your average hunter/gatherer, especially in terms of being at their peak. And also very mush dependent on seasons. They were not having bowls of juicy bing cherries.
1
They aren't talking about added sugar. If you take an orange off a tree, squeeze the juice out and drink a cupful, it's the same amount of sugar as a cupful of Coca Cola.
Well.
How alarming.
And alr=armist.
And cynically so.
Honest writers would have brought these "horrifying" statistics into perspective by noting that the average adult, on a 2000 calorie per day diet, would be expected to take in between 250 and 325 mg of carbohydrates as partof their diet.
So if someone drinks an 8 oz glass of orange juice in the morning and the 26 grams of carbs that come with it, SO WHAT....
The larger issue is managing overall carb intake, which is straightforward, and can include juice, a can of Coke, or whatever, as long as it is part of a managed intake plan.
A glass of juice, in context, is nothing harmful.
Unless you are an alarmist.
17
The issue being pointed out is twofold: first, the glass of juice is basically sugar water - empty calories. Second, adults and children who consume juice do not simply drink one serving, but several glasses of juice each which easily contain two or more servings each. And they do this every day. Beverages are not typically considered when the average person thinks about calories consumed. Ergo, many of these people are drinking several servings of empty calories over and above their food consumption.
26
Do you have some sort of proof that people who consume juice have several glasses per day, every day? If so, what is your source?
Why would you think that the average person would not consider beverages as part of their calorie consumption (if they are thinking about calories at all, that is)?
And what about the many phytochemicals in juice that differentiate it from sugar water? If juice were purely empty calories, it would not look or taste like juice. Plants have a complex makeup, and a lot of components show up in juice. Examples include anthocyanins and flavanols. Fruits contain compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. And cranberry juice contains d-mannose, which famously helps to fight urinary tract infections.
In short, while it would be better to consume most fruit whole, fruit juice is not at all synonymous with sugar water.
4
Lots of people have lots of problems with context, Objectivist. Thus the huge increase in type 2 diabetes. Can you at least agree with that?
7
I grew up in a household where we didn't have sodas because we couldn't afford them—there were five of us children, and sodas were considered a luxury. We were offered and encouraged to drink water, and it's still my favorite beverage. At the risk of sounding un-American, I don't even like Coke.
46
Every time I read something about how poor they were way back when, I wonder what the point is meant to be. The real poverty suffered by so many Americans today does not necessarily encourage a healthy beverage choices. Quite the opposite. My poverty level students are so poor their food runs out every month. They grow up drinking "sugar water" (sugar mixed in a glassful of water) to stop hunger pains. You even see mothers mixing it for baby bottles.
Sweet drinks whether homemade or bought are commonly consumed for all kinds of reasons, but cheap calories is one of them. The article should have mentioned this.
21
When I lived in Cali up to 8 years ago, I got plenty of sunshine, exercise (tennis, swimming, biking) and always drank a glass of OJ with breakfast. (Also drank some soda while stuck in traffic).
Then, I moved to NYC, and my doctor told me I had diabetes. No way! I had been living a healthy lifestyle, doing all the right things, no?
Apparently, I had not. I now drink virtually no juice - but still have diabetes. Once you get that, you are pretty much stuck, although I do have it under control.
I find the misdirection in advertising the health benefits of juice incredibly deceptive - with devastating results, at least for me.
33
Your OJ with breakfast was not enough to cause your diabetes-- unless your glass was incredibly large. As a health-care provider, I would stake my practice on that statement. There had to have been more going on than one glass of juice once per day.
Wishing you success with continuing to control your diabetes and maintain your health. Sorry to hear that this disease became part of your life.
9
@Joseph-
Titanium dioxide, a mineral that many manufacturers add to processed foods — and toothpaste — as a whitening agent is now implicated in development of type 2 diabetes. The human body doesn’t utilize titanium metal in any known metabolic process (unlike, say, zinc, iron and copper). So nano-size titanium granules accumulate in the visceral fat layers of your abdominal cavity where, over time, they slowly poison adjacent organs — your kidneys and, especially, your pancreas. Everyday ordinary oral hygiene, brushing your teeth with an enamel-whitening dentifrice, might well be more responsible for the onset of your condition than any glass of OJ in the morning.
The simple fact is we’re slowly poisoning ourselves just as thoroughly as the ancient Romans did with their antimony creams, lead water pipes and cooking utensils.
NO FOOD causes diabetes. Not even pure cane sugar. Not candy. Not chocolate. Not breakfast cereals. Not fruit juice -- not, not even large glasses of it.
NO FOOD CAUSES DIABETES. And no food can cure diabetes. There is no cure for diabetes (*excepting in the rare cases of a Type 1 diabetic who gets a pancreatic transplant).
Diabetes is heritable, meaning you likely inherited the gene for it. You can get Type 2 diabetes even if you are slender and active, and yes, even if you drink no soda or fruit juice.
1
Our go-to drink is the lemonade sold by-the-gallon at most grocery stores (Publix brand in our case). We dilute it 3-to-1 so a gallon makes three. It’s two spoons of sugar per 12 oz glass — 5x better than O.J. We started with a 2-1 mix and slowly worked our way up to 3-1. Now if I accidentally drink the undiluted it tastes like concentrate!
3
Wow, OK.
Maybe consider your "go-to" being water? Just a suggestion. Save bunches of money. And try making real lemonade with actual lemons, sweetened minimally as a treat?
Straight juice is too sweet for me. When I want something flavored to drink, I fill my glass 25% with juice and the rest with water.
11
Ugh, I wish I had known how bad juice was when I was a young mother. I gave my kids juice daily, and in pre-school and grade school, juice boxes went into their brown bags.
I've eliminated soda from the home for the past 10 years, and if we have more than 5 sodas in a year, that's a lot. But I truly feel badly for loading this house up with juice for at least 15 years.
41
Stop it. My mom did that back in the Sixties and much worse. And I have every reason to believe she loved us. We do the best we can with the information that we have at the time. The kids are all right.
60
Don't feel bad about giving your kids juice, especially a few oz of OJ with pulp.
Soda they can have a glass every month or two.
More important they have an egg for breakfast than that you take away their juice. At least "nutritionists" have given up the nonsense they "advised" 20 years ago, that you should skip the egg yolks
There's nothing better than a good crisp cold eating apple (or two) when you're thirsty. I just tried the new Kanzi apples from my grocer and they're to die for.
18
The writers should have mentioned that whole fruit includes a kind of time release construction created by its cellulose scaffolding.
Blending fruit into smoothies is somewhat damaging to this construction but still the fruit in smoothies releases sugar into the blood stream more slowly than pressed juice.
32
Another common misconception is that consuming milk is healthy. Beyond toddlerhood, there is no reason anyone needs milk. We have no trouble consuming adequate protein and vitamins with a varied diet. At some point, the question is how much does lobbying influence recommendations from government agencies. We have powerful industries, with government cooperation, pushing sugar-laden and dairy products on the public.
42
This statement -- past toddlerhood no one needs milk -- is false. Pregnant women need milk, and people (usually women) with osteopenia or osteoporosis-- need calcium in the form of milk or yogurt. For those not allergic to dairy, milk (skim milk is fine) is a good source of protein.
29
There is much evidence, as well, that there is virtually no need for us to eat grains. (I realize that will upset any number of people.) I don't and haven't for the last forty-five years; I do, however, eat yogurt (which is milk) regularly.
Until further notice, I'm okay (b. 1952)
12
No, pregnant women do not "need" milk. Neither do people with bone density issues. There are better sources of calcium. Skim milk has too much sugar. A serving of skim milk has 12 grams of sugar in the form of lactose, also known as milk sugar. If you must drink milk, whole milk is a better choice, but nobody needs to.
8
Only the commercial boxed ones contain that much sugar. Try fresh squeezed juice with nothing else in it at home or at Whole Foods. Sure that contains natural sugar as well, but not ten table spoons.
8
Just checked several sites. A 12 ounce glass of orange juice has 9 teaspoons of sugar without adding any additional sugar to the natural juice.
When I parented my kids some 30 years ago, the medical view was to split juice with water since the juice is virtually empty calories. Whole fruit and vegetables were highly recommended, with a strong suggestion of keeping cut up fruit and veggies in the fridge for kids or parents to grab.
I believe Juice boxes were designed to make it difficult to split juice with water. Convenience trumps health.
14
Come on. Hardly anyone ever diluted juice. Juice boxes were designed to be hard to spill because juice spills are sticky and on-the-go drinks are convenient, end of story.
2
Most moms I know who did not use juice boxes split the juice. Cheaper and healthier!
I believe what you are saying is that you and the people you know did not split the juice. We know different people.
I could not find any articles on statistics of parents splitting juice with water.
I did find many, many articles about fruit juice danger to teeth and general health, especially for kids.
Interesting how neither of the authors has an MD after the name. Professors, but no medical degree.
Question - the sugar they speak of (in orange juice) is it added sugar or natural sugar? They could have made that point a whole lot clearer.
8
Not sure what you mean by "interesting."
MDs typically do NOT have much knowledge about nutrition. Med schools are only recently catching on to nutrition's importance to healthcare and changing their curricula accordingly.
As to your question, I've read elsewhere about orange juice having similar sugar content as sodas WITHOUT added sugar.
23
A PhD who does nutrition research or, in this case, an RD (registered dietitian) is perfectly qualified to comment on nutrition. Where do you think the MDs get their information?
And for the record, it’s natural sugar, not added sugar, that’s in juice. But it’s still simple sugar and has a high glycemic index, which is why it’s good for someone suffering an episode of hypoglycemia. Eating a whole orange, in contrast, contains fiber and more complex sugar molecules that are more slow-release as you digest it, which keeps blood sugar from spiking as quickly among other benefits.
21
A quick review of two of the authors does show that they are MDs, and, one also has an MPH, a masters of public health.
12
It depends on the juice and the quantity. Sugary drinks like "punch" are pure garbage. But juice from a natural source, unadulterated and not concentrated is healthy. Don't let any newspaper or "expert" tell you different. One glass of natural orange juice per day is good and beneficial. One gallon per day is not. Again, I don't need a nutritionist or doctor to guide me through this.
13
One glass, let us say 350 ml to be specific, of orange juice, contains juice from about 8-10 fruits (depends on the fruit) and about 500 gm of fibers (I am clubbing all the non juice part of the peeled fruit). If you are eating whole fruit, you will just take 1-2 (and certainly not 8-10) and that makes a difference.
4
I'll repeat my statement because somehow it seems to have eluded some readers: One glass of natural orange juice per day is good and beneficial.
Shockingly, it is possible to have a glass of juice and also, in addition, eat whole fruit. Even more astonishing, it is possible to do so all within the same day. Even more stunning, it is possible to enjoy the benefits of juice and whole fruit, without the necessity of choosing one over the other. And again, I don't need your analysis, a dietician, nutritionist or doctor to guide me through this.
You clearly have logical reasoning issues. Juice has a much sugar - the exact some molecule structure - as soda. The fact that one is "natural"makes no iota of difference. There is little or no fiber in juice. So in terms of health impact it is similar to drinking coke. Wishing this fact away won't change the reality.
1
Try cutting the juice with soda water. Refreshing and with a huge reduction in calories.
20
A much more practical suggestion than telling parents to just give their kids water. Parents want children to have drinks that are healthy, but also interesting and tasty. Give your kids nothing but water to drink and prepare to have this anecdote appear in their memoirs when they describe their prison-like childhood.
Stop with the smoothies and the juices. The reason fruit and vegetables are healthy is because they fill you up with less calories. Processing them by liquefying them so that you can easily gulp the equivalent of several pieces of fruit defeats the purpose. Eat a piece of fruit and drink a glass of water.
43
How about an eight-ounce glass or less of mixed-vegetable or tomato juice each day? Something besides sweet fruit juice?
8
"... an eight-ounce glass or less of mixed-vegetable or tomato juice each day?"
Good suggestion, although you have to check the sodium content.
As for calories, an 8 oz serving of a well-known brand has 45 calories. Very thrifty, calorie-wise! :-)
5
Most tomato juice, like V-8, is absolutely loaded with salt -- I mean, crazy amounts.
I love that stuff -- Clamato too! -- and I could drink it daily but I don't, because of the crazy high sodium content.
I've tried the low sodium version and it's so awful, it is gag-inducing. Seriously, it is inedible.
So I've mostly given it up, but occasionally on a special occasion will buy a bottle -- as a treat.
1
If you make the juice yourself, it is not going to have a high sodium content.
Fruit sugar is mostly fructose and soda sugar is mostly sucrose. The body doesn't react to them in exactly the same way. This needs to be examined much more closely. The points made in this article are worth considering, but in my view the conclusions are premature at best.
6
Dextrose is the sugar in fruits. All sugars are constructed from glucose. All are molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. I doubt if most people who praise this compound or that all made up from the same fundamental molecule have any real idea of what makes one good and another bad. The concern is how they become usable energy in cells and what happens when body has too much or too little for it’s needs.
2
Both comments above are erroneous. Most fruits contain a combination of glucose and fructose in varying ratios. I know this because after years of stomach problems I finally learned that I cannot properly digest fructose unless it's equal or lower to the amount of glucose in whatever fruit I am eating. As a result I have had to study closely the breakdown of sugars in my food. Excess fructose has in fact been implicated in many human health problems including diabetes and auto-immune disorders... The problem is that over time most commercially grown fruits have been bred to be sweeter and sweeter, because that's what people find appealing. It's true that the starches and other nutrients you get when eating the entire fruit are helpful in metabolizing it, but just because fruit is a "whole food" doesn't mean it shouldn't be eaten in moderation.
As for soda, if it's sweetened with cane sugar then it contains 50/50 fructose and glucose; if it's sweetened with high fructose corn syrup it's likely 55 percent fructose and 45% glucose. The same problems apply as with fruit, but without the modifying effect of the starches and other components.
6
Wrong. Read Gary Taubes. Sugar is sugar. Once ingested the body treats it all the same.
If this article was supposed to help public health, it fell way short. The scolding tone feeds into the notion that there are “food police.”
A “gateway beverage?” Please! We’re not talking drugs or alcohol here. One-year-old juice fans, as older children, will drink the empty calories of sodas and sports drinks? Well, one-year-olds, and older children, drink what adults provide them. Juice itself can hardly be faulted.
What this article does not acknowledge is that people drink juice simply because they are thirsty or want something with which to wash down a meal; a solid piece of fruit is not going to cut it. This is not a choice between natural fruit or the juice; the choice is between drinking fruit juice or the likes of soda. Water is great, but sometimes people, yes, want something with more flavor. At least juice has vitamins in it.
24
Most people are not vitamin deficient. You might as well drink soda. If you have a meal why do you need more flavor? I think it’s habit and I know it’s hard to break them but we should... if not for our sake, for our kids. Nothing is wrong with water.
16
Want more flavor? Drink seltzer water. Kids insist on the nutrition-less juice? Split that juice with seltzer water. It sizzles and has zero calories.
2
@Rini, just about everyone is vitamin deficient.
There's nothing in food nowadays due to factory farming, soil depletion, pesticides, herbicides, transport, freezing, storage, processing, cooking. (Organic tests better but is still light on nutrients).
You'd need to eat many times the food quantity to get the nutrition your grandfather had. Since 1925 nutritional quality has decreased at a 45 degree angle.
In the old days, when we were cavepeople, the paleoarcheologists have determned that we got 10 to 100 times the nutrition (depending on the nutrient) that we get today. And the average caveperson could press 300 pounds above their head.
The RDAs are meaningless and are not close to optimal health amounts, especially since one person may need 100 or 1000 times more of a specific nutrient than the person beside him due to biochemical individuality.
Consider also that there are about 40 nutrients. Every person has a normal curve for their individual requirement for each of those 40 nutrients, so each nutrient has about a 5% chance of being deficient - that's a 5% chance for each of 40 nutrients. Which guarantees deficiency in multiple nutrients.
The problem is never taking too many nutrients, but is always in taking to few.
Here are the most common nutrient deficiencies?
https://tinyurl.com/y7x92qw7
Juice is not healthy! And look into the way orange juice is made - freshly squeezed orange juice. Yes it was freshly squeezed when it was picked, but then it was pasturized, preserved and stored for 6 months in a vat - and since this process removed all the natural taste and vitamins theybwere all added back in when they put it in the carton at the plant and shipped it to the store. So fresh aqueezed orange juice from the carton- no thanks. Just give me an orange.
21
when you put it that way, I think you make a very good point. I do love wegmans cold pressed orange juoce with the pulp floating around inside sold cold and crisp...
Surely the use of packaged fruit juices in America is not particularly healthy or advisable for most people. Maybe it isn't necessary to make distinctions about acceptable juice use. Or maybe there is no such thing. I don't know. But I do enjoy squeezing a tangerine or two or an orange or two depending on size and season in order to have a few ounces with breakfast in the morning. It's the only juice I ever have. As part of a balanced breakfast I can't imagine there's any harm from that and possibly a slight benefit.
8
According to these doctors, eating the orange is fine, drinking the juice from the same orange will make you fat. I remember as a kid (I’m 67) frozen OJ concentrate (noxious stuff, all pulp, which means you try to swallow what normally should be chewed, without chewing). Remember ‘juice glasses’? Held maybe 3 oz. Was supposed to supply all the vitamins a person of any age needed a day. Most mothers added an extra can of water to stretch it, helped the swallowability, a little, but, lessened the vitamins. These doctors ideas are just the next step to forcing all Americans to just take pills for all dietary needs. Vitamins, protein (made only from plants but the ‘right ones’), carbohydrates (from the capsules), veggies (in capsules, or you’ll get too much something, & fiber, which will also be in the capsules making them too large for any animal but a horse to swallow. But, all will be good for you. Both ideas were wrong. You can eat anything, if you eat it in moderation. I gained weight when I lost a lot of my mobility. Neither of these professors said one word about exercise.Little kids don’t walk, they are either carried or in strollers until at least school age. Cause they can’t move fast enough for Mommy & Daddy. They don’t play out doors. They sit on the floor & push small plastic things around, on top of the plastic floor covering that parents keep over everything so the little dears don’t get dirty. So, kids grow up allergic, to everything. Including their own insulin.
Any excessive consumption of any food can lead to adverse health conditions. Sure, parents should moderate how much juice their kids drink and should give their kids more whole fruit, but to equate the sugars in fruit juice with the sugars in Coke is misleading. I actually followed some of the links in the article. The one about the fruit juice allowances for Snap and WIC recipients was current, and it made sense. The recipients should receive a better cash allowance to purchase fruit instead of more juice. The fruit provides nutrients that are missing in the juice. The links for a study that was done on kids and fruit juice and the subsequent rebuttal, however, were from 2015. Does that mean we have no new information on the effects of fruit juice on kids' health? One factor that is briefly mentioned is poverty. It's a lot cheaper to give your kids vitamins through juice and juice drinks than it is to buy whole fruit. Most parents probably don't want their children to be diabetic and obese, but they don't want them to be hungry either, so they will provide whatever they can afford.
9
Okay, maybe in Houston. Not anywhere in NYC where there is a fruit/vegetable stand on nearly every block. As a single person, one gets $192 a month on SNAP in NY state: if you know about beans, legumes and fruit/vegetable stands, one can almost make a go of that sum over the month. And eat reasonably well.
7
There is not a fruit and vegetables stand on nearly any block outside of New York City.
1
Scanning the article and the comments, it would appear that pineapple juice has escaped the sledging meted out to orange juice - which is good because pineapple juice tastes awesome. Great on its own, or 50/50 with seltzer or diet soda such as Sprite.
2
Diet soda? That is poison.
It's rapidly becoming clear that a) what's happening in your GI system's microbiome has a huge impact on your health, and b) there's a huge amount we don't know yet about our GI system's microbiome. Just like it was recently discovered that certain beneficial strains of gut bacteria thrive on fiber (so, fiber is indeed beneficial for you, but not for any of the reasons anyone previously thought), I wouldn't be surprised if someone soon discovers that beneficial strains of gut bacteria thrive on fructose (found in fruit juice) while harmful strains of gut bacteria thrive on sucrose (what's added to soda). Rather than pontificate based on the unsubstantiated premise that our bodies are affected the same by fructose and sucrose, how about the authors of this piece spend their time determining if that premise is indeed true, or not?
6
It may week turn out to be true that equal amounts of fructose and sucrose have differential long term health effects, but that’s not the point of the article. The point here is that TOTAL CALORIES are increased by excess juice consumption, and total calorie excess is likely to lead to obesity and associated diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease). There is much still to learn about the the long term effects of simple and complex carbohydrate metabolism, but that doesn’t effect the authors’ message one bit.
4
Fruit also ferments in one's digestive tract, which causes GI issues for many people.
Can't companies just reduce the sugar?
4
No, or at least not easily, since what this article is about is not added sugar. It's sugar that is in the fruit naturally. when separted from the fiber in the fruit as in juice, the sugar has a larger negative effect on the body than when you consume the whole fruit.
3
Maybe not rely on companies? Maybe buy actual foods as closely resembling their appearance in what passes for nature these days? The mantra has been for some time to shop around the edge of the grocery store. Preferably organic. And yes, I know those things come from companies like Amazon these days, but you understand what I mean. Once you are buying real foods you can then focus on which are better for you. It's still pretty easy to do a little research. If it is green that is a start, assuming it is not rotting.
1
I have often wondered about the sugar content in other foods, such as beets.
If I make French toast for one of our weekend breakfasts, I make certain not to serve beets for dinner, knowing that much of the world obtains their refined sugar from beets.
Beets, including sugar beets, are comparable to whole fruit in that there is a good ratio of fiber to sugar, plus an individual beet is only 30-40 calories. Not to mention vitamin/mineral content. Splurging on French Toast from time to time is fine (my kids love it), but don’t skip the beets...that’s just adding insult to injury!
7
"... I make certain not to serve beets for dinner, knowing that much of the world obtains their refined sugar from beets."
Sugar beets are not normally consumed as a vegetable. They are a different variety from the red table beets you seem to be referring to.
Google "beet calories" for specific numbers.
11
if their primary objective was public health v addiction to their product, yes. alas, their complicity with the sugar industry and profit for their shareholders outweighs that benevolence.
Those of you who are older will have noticed the crazy zig-zags of dietary theory in the United States. We have come full circle. What is being taught now is almost exactly the opposite of what we were saying fifty years ago. This is not progress. It is chaos. There is little reason to believe that the current set of dietary recommendations has any truth value.
44
If you follow the research, one sees that some dietary ideas are better supported by the evidence while others are significant but not as well supported but are related to serious health concerns. So some recommendations about diet are reliable enough to follow while others are offered without the uncertainties stated because it would seem to be better to follow than not, but not reliably. Examination of outcomes from supplements just just not always confirm what was expected. In adequate calcium in one part of the body causes it to be removed from another while too much added calcium in the diet can result in an accumulation where it becomes harmful. Our knowledge of nutritional health is far from complete.
1
Dr. Murray, as a fellow physician, I have to disagree. While the zig-zags of fad diets ought certainly to be ignored, the more reasoned recommendations of the MAINSTREAM medical community are sound, and not prone to fanatical whims. Not only is our knowledge greater, but our data set is far larger. Recommendations such as this, to avoid sugary juice and instead focus on eating whole fruit, are not only data driven—they also square with common sense. There are dietary quacks and charlatans, to be sure, but it’s critical not to confuse those with good science and good sense.
11
The "MAINSTREAM" medical community told me for thirty years that (1) go low-fat in your diet, particularly if you want to lose weight; and (2) that all fats were more or less the same. That nonsense was never substantiated, and has been upended and deservedly so.
There has never been a study that accurately correlates the cholesterol that one consumes and the cholesterol that one produces in their body. And the "rock-solid" numbers when we get our checkup for cholesterol are now seriously in question among medical researchers. As are the value of statins, etc.
Enough about the "MAINSTREAM" medical profession. Please.
In the grocery store I see obese people reaching for the worst junk and healthy weight people making sensible choices. It seems we all pretty much know and have made our choices.
For some reason (advertising?) a lot of Americans choose obesity.
About every other day I make a smoothie: 4oz orange juice, several tablespoons unsweetened plain yogurt, a whole banana, a whole apple, a small handful of blueberries, a carrot, other fruit that may be in season, such as peaches right now, a generous scoop of my favorite protein powder. Every so often I'll add a bunch of kale leaves.
It makes about 2 tall glasses. I'll drink one and save the other in the fridge for the morning, assuming someone else in the house doesn't get tempted. (They usually do.)
It's a great way to consume a lot of fresh food. Mostly I buy organic.
Some people complain about the higher cost of organic produce, then proceed to waste their money on fast food restaurants, white sugar, white flour and sodas.
It's all about choices. The key is getting control of advertising geared at children. That's pernicious and where the problems begin.
11
Good for you. I am obese, eat a similar amount of fruit and veggies, but don’t feel the need to grind it up and add yogurt and protein powder. I prefer to just eat delicious Whole Foods, but I won’t judge you for how you prefer to do it.
You have no idea what the people you see in the supermarket are going through, whether they have actually lost a lot of weight to be at the size you see (I have, but most people assume I’ve only ever gone up), gained weight because of medication or other issues you can know nothing about or (like me) were made obese as children and given a lifelong battle to fight. Once your body has been obese, it becomes truly exhausting to prevent weight gain — much harder than you’d think if you’ve never had this problem. I am sure if you saw me, you’d assume I never exercise & sit around all day eating junk food and drinking sugary drinks. (You’d be wildly off the mark)
For me, preventing weight gain requires living on a restricted diet of no more than 1500 calories a day (that’s a high day) plus working out vigorously for 90 minutes 5 to 6 times a week. I did it for 15 years, then got a little exhausted and regained a bunch of weight quickly when I slacked off (which meant stopping weighing/measuring all portions, eating dessert a little more often and gradually downgrading my formal workouts to 1-2 times a week in addition to living car-free and biking/walking most places I go).
So maybe a little lighter on the judgment.
369
GreenGirl - I'm not judging anybody. I'm pointing out a simple fact. Our choices have a huge impact on who we become, which is why I ended my comment with the note about advertising directed at children and called it pernicious, because that is adults (Madison Ave) warping kids minds and setting them off on a self-destructive path.
I'm in a food business that puts me in grocery stores on a daily basis. Unfortunately I see a constant stream of obese parents passing their bad habits on to their children. In this day and age anybody old enough to be a parent MUST know at least the basics about nutrition and health. There's really no excuse for not knowing anymore.
Honestly, I empathize.... 5'8" and used to weigh 220 pounds, yo-yo'd for years and then got to 145 (for like 10 min). I'm able to maintain my weight at about 170. I didn't find the article judgmental.
I think our missed one of the keybpoints in the article, which you have experience with.... It is so much harder to lose and maintain once one has been obese.
EVERY doctor who has worked with patients struggling with weight has said some variation of "If you're going to have fruit, have it in moderation and eat it, not drink it".
3
We gave our kids "fruit punch" until we noticed high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients list.
3
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) isn't much different from table sugar. Table sugar ("sucrose") is exactly 50 percent fructose. HFCS is usually about 52 percent fructose. Both are immediately cleaved in the body to two simple sugars -- glucose and fructose. Fructose is a huge problem because it bypasses our satiation switches (insulin and leptin, which both act on the hypothalamus to signal satiation). You can drink a super-sized Coke or orange juice and not feel in any way full or satiated. Honey, maple syrup, HFCS, white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup . . . it's all sugar.
1
You do have to read labels. Fruit Punch often has no fruit in any form including juice in it. All fake.
High fructose corn syrup should be avoided at all cost, Jonathan. Seriously.
Ice cream, cookies, pies, bread, cereals, candy, broccoli, kale, tofu, steak, fish whole grains, refined grains, juice, alcoholic beverages, soda, and Lima beans are all foods which provide some kind of nutrients that satisfy our bodies nutritional needs. The danger is failing to satisfy all of our needs without ingesting more of some that can cause harm if taken in excess or in poorly considered combinations. So we find that we must eat some foods that we crave less and less of others that we crave more. Demonizing some foods and praising others without stating what purposes are to served tends to create misunderstandings. Like labeling foods as junk foods and other as healthy that results in overeating of healthy foods leading to metabolic problems. We can and should educate everyone to understand how to eat well without eating too much.
5
Everyone has to be aware of the total amounts of sugar or any other food ingredient(s) they consume on a daily basis. We must be assured that we're getting the proper amounts of all nutrients essential to maintaining good health.
3
These medical experts should also go after yoghurt tubes: these products' sugar content is absolutely jaw-dropping!
32
I have yet to find a brand of flavored yogurt that isn't packed full of unnecessary sugar. I only ever buy plain anymore. I've given up. When strawberries are in season I'll buy organic and add them. But once I ate plain for a while I became accustomed to it and thoroughly enjoy it now.
21
"These medical experts should also go after yoghurt tubes: ..."
It would help if you reported some actual numbers from a nutrition label.
Anyway, here are some numbers:
yogurt tube, lowfat, strawberry (64g): 70 cal
yogurt cup, lowfat, strawberry (6oz, 170g): 170 cal
"... these products' sugar content is absolutely jaw-dropping!"
Scaling the tube size to the cup size: 186 cal (= (170/64)*70)
So the tube does have a higher calorie density than the cup, but it is not "absolutely jaw-dropping". :-)
The secret, I learned 20 years or more ago is to eat WHOLE plain yogurt -- not the low or no fat stuff.
Yogurt requires natural dairy fat to taste good. The low and no fat types are sour and bitter, so the makers put in sugary jam flavoring to mask the sour taste.
REAL WHOLE MILK YOGURT is naturally smooth and mild. It is one of the greatest foods on the planet earth. It is delicious plain or with whole fruits, chopped nuts -- or with cucumber and spices, as in Indian raita.
Once people taste whole milk yogurt, their whole "yogurt paradigm" changes and yogurt stops being a miserable "health food" which you must cover up with other flavors to keep from gagging.
It becomes DELICIOUS in its own right!
Once you have tasted WHOLE MILK YOGURT…there is no going back to the awful, sour low or no fat yogurts.
You also don't have to "get used to it" as if eating yogurt were punishment. IT IS DELICIOUS!
Now, there must be a difference between a glass of juice, in which the sugar derives from the whole fruit, and a can of coke, which contains a whole bunch of cane sugar poured into the mix. I simply do not believe that there is no difference between the one and the other.
27
Sugar is sugar, even honey is no better. When one eats a piece of fruit one benefits from the fiber and vitamins and gets a proportional amount of sugar. People tend to drink too much juice and receive little or none of the benefits of whole fruit.
38
Extract sugar from a sugar cane plant, and mix it with water: Bad and unhealthy.
Extract sugar and water pre-mixed from an apple tree: Good and healthy.
Gotcha.
2
@David - I agree. Information on "added sugars" are now available on nutritional labels. I also wish the author elaborated on fresh squeezed juices that have no added sugars.
3
Sugar, glucose, is the energy from the sun that supports life on Earth. Living things need it but just enough when it’s needed. To some extent it can be converted and stored. More is not better. More means too much to be used or safely stored for later. Unfortunately, our tastes evolved to crave sugar, fats, and salt, all very good for survival when food could be scarce. Not good where food is rarely scarce and those cravings result in eating too much.
9
I think, more broadly, we need to start viewing refined and whole carbohydrates as two different macronutrients. This prevents the villainizing of carbs as a whole (the idea that whole grains, whole fruits etc. are "bad").
9
In my experience -- lunch at work, etc. -- most people don't even know that eating a salad is eating carbs. And they seem offended when that is pointed out to them.
Yes, the carb thing is so distorted that for some eating a salad is more or less the same as eating ritz crackers (both are carbs, right?); or eating french fries and eating a baked potato amounts to the same nutritional sin.
It's a study in mis/disinformation. How did we get here?
Oh yeah, the juice thing was manufactured nonsense from the git-go. Eat the whole apple, eat the whole orange. And teach your kids that.
Dieticians have been changing their advice as to what we should and shouldn't eat for as long as I have been alive, all based on this study or that study. Something is always a villain -- eggs, coffee, red meat, butter, dairy, flour, fat, carbs, sugar. And then it turns out the villain was miscast. Not so good for the credibility of the food police. Of course, the food police could just suggest balance and moderation, but that would reduce anxiety about food and what fun would that be?
27
There is no “villain” and the essentials of dietary recommendations have really not changed all that much, even if there is less focus on saturated fat now. I think it’s less about what researchers and dietitians think and more about the narratives that suit the media.
1
Yeah, I remember some two decades back when we had that run at eggs: bad for you, etc. It was the beginning of my nutritional education: be very, very careful of newspaper articles about what you should eat. (Especially Jane Brody.)
Utterly unsubstantiated "studies" that people went home believing as gospel. We have continuously been duped.
Yes!
Anxiety gets consumers to spend $$$
Fresh slow-juiced fruit and veggie juice, slipped slowly cannot be beat. Tastes amazing and you can feel the ‘goodness’ permeate into the far corners of your body. And it can make you happy as well. This is an empirical finding, folks, proven by experience again and again.
13
The reason you like it so much is because it’s full of sugar. Sugar makes people feel really good, at least in the short term.
10
Please don’t be so presumptuous to tell me why I like it. I have been around long enough to appreciate that a spoonful of sugar or even a candy bar is not as satisfying, delicious or healthy as a glass of fresh juice. Children, perhaps, might not realize this.
What makes something slow-juiced as opposed to "normal" juicing by squeezing the fruit until the juice come out.
The hardest part of making sense of empirical knowledge is avoiding the errors of certainty and absolutes. Juices contain many nutrients which promote health and so they can offer high concentrations of water soluble vitamins and minerals that the tough structures of the plants from which they are extracted make difficult to acquire from eating the whole fruits or vegetables. That is what has been considered in recommending them as healthy foods. It’s true but along with micronutrients sugars are concentrated, too, which in any form can cause unhealthy effects in our bodies. What we should learn is how to reliably determine what are the needs of our bodies and what we eats addresses those needs and what poor side effects should be considered.
7
This focus on drinks obscures the real culprit which is sugar in general. Why no mention of limiting cookies, cakes, pies, and candy.
6
For one thing, nobody really argues that cookies, cakes, pies, and candy are good for you. Juice still has something of a "halo of health" from the 'as long as it's not fat it's OK" days of nutritional advice, which science has been steadily debunking.
58
Get into the habit of reading food labels and you'll be amazed how much is in foods you wouldn't expect, flavored yogurts, ketchup (!!!) ...
This consumer will try to stay on the topic of oranges in all shapes and forms, and not wander off to happy sodas like coke.
Not all children like fruit. In the 50s we were thinner at that age, and freshly squeezed orange juice was reserved for the grown-ups. The awful tomato soup comes to mind, where I stood my ground, and took a wallop for a show of courage.
We moved to Europe and one sip of milk in Paris was plenty. The best meal of the day at age 9 in boarding-school was a bowl of warm powdered milk with a slight tinge of coffee. Here I hasten to add that stale bread was in abundance and that all edibles from the nuns' garden was organic. Weedy.
On returning to America in late adolescence, I never bought fruit juice of any kind. There was a passage in time from my 40s to 50s, when grapefruit juice was the only beverage I would drink. Past 60, I am about to find out if this still suits my palate.
Juice is not healthy? What happened to this beverage; why are we becoming so stout and what are children supposed to drink?
Dr. Aaron Carroll is always moderate and perhaps he might share with his readership, the beverages he was 'served with', from the crib until now.
Everything in moderation, and the large cupcake with icing for breakfast and a diet soda, is not the best way to lose weight, or stay healthy. Your visitor has mentioned being on a diet, leaving you in a state of perplexity.
An orange was a treat at Christmas after WWII, and this was our dessert.
14
Froot Loops with orange juice: get ahead of your day with a power breakfast.
“What should children drink » - really ? How about water?
... what are children supposed to drink?
Water
"Gateway beverage" indeed. I felt so much better and lost weight when I saw juice for what it is - uncarbonated soda. Instead, seltzer with lemon, including flavored but unsweetened Perrier, provides the bubbles I crave. Nor do I miss sugar in coffee or sports drinks. It was so easy to give up added sugar and the benefits are immediate and obvious.
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It's not just the sugar content it's the deceptive packaging.
100% juice, regardless of the variety is more expensive. I've noticed the big national brands now label their non 100% juice products as "100% Vitamin C!" with the vitamin c part in smaller print than 100%. No doubt they count on the hurried consumer to misread and think 100% juice.
If that's not bad enough, many of these products contain only around 25% juice (+/-), and the actual juice is from a variety of fruits, the most common being apple, even though the product is labeled grape juice. And yes, the sugar content is way up there.
I don't do soft drinks, do drink a lot of water, but will continue with my small glass of ruby red 100% grapefruit every day or so.
Wasn't it salt that was going to kill us all a few yrs. back? Then it was carbs, now it's sugar. My grandmother lived healthily and happily to 94 (died in her sleep) and she ate what she wanted - all fresh, home cooked, and made the best pound cake you've ever put in your mouth. I think she was on to something.
9
Is it better to be happy? or very, very thin?
Yes, I think your grandma was on to something!
1
Ok gang, let's go over it again, what history has taught us.
Re food and drink, everything should be consumed in moderation.
You are not gonna die if you drink a tofu/celery drink once a week with few calories and many vitamins or a chocolate shake with 800 calories with little useful nutrition.
You should eat basically healthy food but can cheat a bit if you want to remain thin and healthy.
Choose your calories to your taste. If I want to eat healthy I will not eat tofu since I hate it but will substitute some other healthy fruit or veggie.
If I want to pig out I will eat a cream crumb donut with 450 calories but not a jelly donut since I don't think the jelly donut is worth the calories.
Not rocket science here, don't complicate it. Juice is more healthy than coke but has sugar. Eat both in moderation.
11
My elderly father has been using his Vitamix blender to prepare juice for breakfast for him and his wife for 2 decades. He didn't believe he was destroying important fiber and lacking enough fiber in diet until he was hospitalized for diverticula bleeding.
6
Blending reduces fiber, it does not eliminate it. Vitamix is not a juicer.
Your father's problem was the overall lack of sufficient fiber in his diet, and possibly meds he took that had constipation as a side effect.
I make a yogurt/berry smoothie in my Vitamix every morning - and throw in some cooked oatmeal to add fiber. Or you could add psyllium.
1
I'm struggling to find any proof that high speed blenders like the Vitamix destroy fiber. Can you provide some references?
I find several references that contradict your assertion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/science/q-a-finer-fiber.html
https://www.livestrong.com/article/548978-does-fruit-lose-its-nutritiona...
I rarely gave my kids juice when they were little, and when they were teens needing some calories, when I bought OJ with calcium, they didn't drink it. Both almost never drink soda now. Tastes develop early and it's hard to break the sugar craving.
6
My kids got Juicy Juice in generous helpings, but soda was a very rare luxury. Sugary cereal was a garnish for a bowl Cheerios. They turned out fine, are in their 20s, and barely ever touch soda.
Anecdotal for sure, but there it is...
2
There is a reason juice glasses are small. One glass, at breakfast, should be one's limit.
16
The problem is that those glasses aren't so small anymore. (As well as the issue that juice isn't just for breakfast these days.)
Oranges: healthy.
Contain natural vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber and water.
The same, run through a juicer: (a little less) healthy
Contain natural vitamins, minerals, enzymes and water Fiber lost which causes blood sugar levels to spike a bit from the natural sugar.
OJ in a carton - unhealthy. Sugary, orange-flavored water. Akin to soda.
Natural vitamins and enzymes are killed off through processing. Artificial vitamins which are not really absorbed by the body are added as a selling point. Raises blood sugar levels to spike.
Keep drinking it (as well as soda) if you don't care what you look like and what you feel like.
15
OJ in a carton -- i.e., fresh orange juice "not from concentrate" -- should contain nothing but squeezed oranges, and some preservatives and added vitamins and calcium.
It is not "orange flavored sugar water" at all.
1
I stopped drinking orange juice decades ago for the very reasons outlined in this article. Now I faithfully drink 8 oz. of juice every day. I’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis and getting calcium in my diet is now my number one priority. That and weight bearing exercise. Calcium in food is recommended by doctors over calcium in tablet form because of the association of the latter with heart disease and kidney stones. So please add a caveat to your advice: senior citizens with osteoporosis excepted.
5
The calcium is added to orange juice is no different than the calcium in a pill. If you want food that has natural calcium, eat leafy greens. And there's data that compounds in onion, garlic, broccoli and cauliflower are important for bone health - which is different than bone density and possibly more important.
1
There are other ways to get the calcium.
2
Make that calcium-fortified orange juice.
Perhaps it's time to return to what were known in my childhood as juice glasses. These were small glasses designed to give you maybe 4 oz of juice.
Mom made juice in a jug designed for that, and the juice was "part of a healthy breakfast"--an easy was to make sure you got your vitamin C.
Every now and then we got fresh squeezed, but again, a small glass.
A friend told me how furious his father was that someone had a large glass of the fresh squeezed stuff.
12 oz is a ridiculous amount of juice. But we don't have to ban juice. Just return to Anne portions.
45
That should be "sane" portion. I loathe autocorrect.
6
I have a set of vintage juice glasses I still use to serve orange juice when people gather for breakfast. I really don't get how people can chug it.
And you can always cut the OJ with water and white wine!
Moderation in all things (used to be called common sense).
I cannot start my day without OJ. But 12 oz?! I probably drink about 3 oz of the reduced sugar brand, which contains half the sugar of regular OJ. Total sugar < 5 grams.
7
I frequently drink 1 cup of 100% pure cranberry juice (7-9 grams sugar) with an equal amount of club soda. C-juice with no added anything is available at my supermarkets. For a cocktail, a splash of vodka will do the trick. I'm no fan of vegetable juices but others are. The writers conflate all juices as being high in sugar, which is just false.
3
I drink a glass of half orange juice (with pulp) and half seltzer (home carbonated water) or Topo Chico (cabrbonated mineral water) which effectively halves the amount of sugar and calories. Put a shot of lemon juice in for a little extra flavor. If you have a can of LaCroix Lemon mix it half and half with some orange juice - it tastes pretty much the same without carbonating your own and adding your own lemon.
Tell the sugar police to take a chill pill. All things in moderation.
22
Good for you. But the reality is that too many children and adults are obese, and sugary beverages plays a role. It’s definitely a good idea to limit children’s intake of juice. Infants should not have any at all. When I was growing up, my family always had orange juice in the refrigerator. But as and adult, I hardly ever drink juice.
My 10-year-old never had 100% fruit juice when she was a baby or toddler, and drinks it full strength or watered down only a few times a year. We just don’t keep the stuff in the house, and it’s too sweet for her her taste anyway. She doesn’t drink soda either. However, she has good friend who drank “kids” and full strength juice as a toddler, and has been drinking soda since at least Kindergarten. Sadly, this previously normal weight child is addicted to sweets and has really packed on the pounds over the past few years.
4
>David
And if it's approaching cocktail hour, stir in a little Brazilian rum.
Thank you for this spot-on article. When I hear people are "juicing", I grimace at the thought that they are doing something healthy when in fact they are doing something unhealthy.
10
They could be juicing vegetables which is much lower in sugar.
10
Yes generally that's what I juice except I got in trouble by juicing spinach which is high in oxalates. That's way too concentrated. You are safer with kale or arugula.
1
I've learned that juicers are for green vegetables (NOT root vegetables like carrots, which contain a lot of sugar) and blenders or TEETH are for the rest.
6
Robert Lustig and others have been saying this for years. Sugar is toxic. The public has been sold this toxic liquid for years by the sugar and citrus industries that have equated health and juice for decades, not to mention the State of Florida with images of oranges on its license plates.
53
There is a difference between “not healthy” and “toxic.” Juice is not going to kill anyone in moderation, just as people have gotten by for hundreds of years without getting obese from occasional sweet indulgences. The problem is treating juice as a substitute for fruit, which contains more fiber and potentially beneficial plant chemicals. Instead juice should be treated as a dessert.
There is not strong evidence that sugar is “toxic.” There is ample evidence that consuming excess calories leads to obesity, and sugary beverages are an easy way to accomplish that overconsumption.
2
Toxic liquid? Don't think that may be just a little bit overstated?
Or Georgia with its huge peach monuments that almost look like obscene images!
1
I'm tired of hearing about how "bad" fruit juice allegedly is. I know that OJ contains sugar. All fruit contains sugar. When I make this point, people respond that juice contains less fiber than whole fruit. The sugar argument suddenly takes a back seat. Even my doctor eventually conceded that freshly squeezed juice was reasonably healthy, containing most or all of the vitamins in an actual orange. Medical professionals have been so wrong so often about what is and isn't healthy that I'm amazed they still have the temerity to publish these assertions. How long ago was butter evil? Eggs? Fat? Wine? Coffee? I am mindful of my overall consumption of sugars, carbs, fats, and protein as well as my overall calorie intake. Juice will remain a part of my diet.
It may very well be true that many parents are misinformed about the sugar levels in juice and other things they feed their kids in the mistaken belief they are healthy. But I can't stand children or their parents, so I don't much care.
91
It's not so much that the whole fruit contains fiber, but that the intact fiber in whole fruit slows the absorption of sugar, resulting in less of an insulin spike after consumption.
Even things like smoothies that free all the sugar but retain the fiber are still in all likelihood worse than eating whole fruit.
Of course, all things in moderation, but as a diabetic, I know that even whole fruit will spike my blood sugar, so YMMV.
8
The bad thing about juice is that it gives you calories, but doesn't reduce hunger. Not good if you're trying to lose weight or keep it off!
As far as medical professionals being wrong so often:
There are degrees of certainty. Smoking, as my doctor pointed out when I asked him this, is bad for you. Period. There is no longer any doubt. Not for decades. When there are recommendations about diet or exercise, there are varying certainties. When giving specific advice, one has to come up with _something_. So you do the best you can with what you know at the time. As our knowledge increases, we are making progress in the long run.
Another problem is putting too much weight on the latest study. There is often news about a single, hot-off-the-presses study. One study is not enough. It needs to be peer-reviewed, reproduced, etc.
As for those studies saying how good chocolate or wine are for you, how rigorous are they? Usually it's a small effect. As a gross exaggeration, it's like vitamins in poison, and they emphasize the vitamins part.
4
"When I make this point, people respond that juice contains less fiber than whole fruit. The sugar argument suddenly takes a back seat."
No it doesn't. The fiber and the whole fruit prevent a person from consuming more than 1 maybe 2 pieces at a time. How much juice are you going to get from 1 maybe 2 oranges? How many oranges are you going to have to eat to get 12 oz of juice? The google reports 2oz of juice per medium orange - and when was the last time you sat and ate 6 oranges in one sitting?
1
Please be clearer about juices from both fruits and vegetables. They vary a lot in the amount of sugars they contain. The cranberry juice I buy is around 70 calories of sugar per cup while pomegranate juice is about 170 calories worth of sugar per cup. And vegetable juices are mostly on the low side when it comes to sugars.
Let's not condemn all juices as "not healthy."
32
Not all juice is the same. Most every day in season, (about three months a year), I pick two fresh oranges from my orange tree and squeeze them into a nice fresh glass of juice, with plenty of pulp. My oranges are very flavorful, but slightly tart. Definitely not Tropicana. No other orange juice compares.
77
What about OJ "with pulp"? My understanding is that the indigestible fiber in a piece of whole fruit helps the body regulate absorption of the sugar. Is that so and do the pulpy varieties of bottled juice provide anything near the proportion of fiber that one would get from eating the real deal?
I've come to treat apple juice like soda (just without the carbonation) - i.e., in the same general "are you kidding me" category as the insanely popular bottles of high fructose corn syrup with a little tea or chemical fruit flavoring in them.
4
The fiber in whole fruit only slows absorption because it 'containerizes' the sugar, that is to say your digestive tract must break down the fiber before it can access the sugar. Just having the fiber along with the already freed sugar (whether juice with pulp or smoothies) does little to nothing to slow absorption.
The same is true of most "whole wheat" bread, which is made with regular white flour with some finely ground bran and germ mixed back in. Such bread has the exact same glycemic index (the measure of sugar absorption) as plain white bread...i.e., the re-added bran makes no difference from a blood sugar/insulin perspective.
6
One of the greatest decisions (investment) you can make is to buy a blender (juicer).
The next greatest thing you can do is actually use it.
(much like that fitness membership)
Good luck.
18
juicing still takes the fibrous content out of fruit. You are deluding yourself in thinking that juicing is healthy.
I'll never forget what my endocrine doctor once told me: God makes fruit. Man makes juice."
Words to live by.
454
And it might as well be wine!
When you have a hankering for a sweet drink, fill your cup halfway with unsweetened fruit juice, and then top it off with seltzer or sparkling water. You get half the sugar and twice the enjoyment!
And even better, if you make your own seltzer at home (there are several gizmos for this on the market) you can cut down on your consumption of plastic packaging.
42
However you are still getting the extra 145 calories. Diluting the drink does not mean fewer calories.
3
Diluting the drink of course does mean less calories and less sugar for the same volume of liquid.
We rarely drink juice but if we do, that's what we do: a little bit of juice with a lot of water added. After a while, juice without dilution seems too sweet.
1
For my most recent blood work, I decided to try an experiment: I did not fast, including drinking my usual 4 oz. of grapefruit juic.
Guess what? There was no measurable difference in either blood sugar or triglycerides, cholesterol, etc. levels. All are in normal range.
8
When I first came to this country, I was so amazed about the ready availability of orange juice, sweet and without pulp. Where I came from orange juice could only be got with a lot of work, squeezing. Since one gave up squeezing after three oranges, there was only less than 8 oz. of juice. The sweetness came straight from the fruit. If a little tart and sour, half a tsp. sugar was added. But drinking the OJ for 3 yrs. has left me jaded. I almost abhor it. The liquid is so thick, so sweet I can hardly swallow it. I get gastric reflux, epigastric pain, belching and most important, I am left thirsty. Besides, the fact those fortified with calcium makes me so constipated. Within three years, I changed to drinking water only. I also made sure my kids' lunches included only water and - a fruit. Fruit was the dessert. I am now so glad. They don't crave for the sugar and in their early adulthood are slim and fit. No Vitamin deficiency! Another side-effect - they don't like soda. I'm so glad I came to my senses early.
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I agree with you. Training kids to love sugar by feeding them full strength juice, soda, and highly sweetened yogurt (the other bad guy that this article would have done well to have mentioned) ought to be a crime! seriously, doing that submits them to a lifelong sugar addiction and weight and health and body image challenges. Just don't do it!
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While recovering from an injury in India, I was given a liter of the best orange juice I have ever had. The unusual taste was probably due to the local variety of orange, but what really amazed me was its high pulp content. I suspect this "juice" was made by pulverizing the whole orange minus the seeds and skin.
Water only is a good choice. That is what I have been drinking for 35 years.
I often mix a half cup of juice with ice and seltzer water, and use it as a replacement for an after-dinner dessert. Could I drink the seltzer alone? Yes. Would it provide me with as much ability to resist eating the dessert that I watch other people around me consume? No. I understand the author's concern when it comes to regular consumption of large amounts of fruit juice, especially for children, but I still think that it (like many other sweets) still can have a place when consumed as part of an otherwise healthy diet.
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WE should have less then6 teaspoons of sugar a day. Sugar is the biggest culprit for bad health. Sugar is also found in bread, rice, potatoes and pasta products. We need more healthy fats (avacado's, olive oil, nuts, walnut oil) and less sugars and meat fats. Sugar drinks also have a sudden a shock to the insulin system and more fats are produced . Fiber, in the orange and apple reduce this. Have an orange not orange juice.
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1.7 g sugar in a medium potato. Don't get carried away here.
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You made several claims in this comment. Can you provide references that support them ?
I stoped drinking juice years ago. Way too much sugar. I do eat lots of fresh fruit instead. Sugar is sugar people. Whether its fructose, or sucrose, or some other "ose", it's still sugar.
The big difference between eating fresh fruit and juice is the sugar in fruit is bound up in the pulp and flesh of the fruit. That causes it to be released much more slowly. The slow pace does not trigger an insulin response like juice does when the sugar hits you all at once. The key to weight control and good health is to minimize these massive insulin dumps that sugar causes. Also, a full glass of orange juice may contain the juice of eight oranges or more. It's a big sugar dump.
Stop juicing your babies with juice. Reduce all the added sugar you can. It's in everything. Sugar is the cocaine of the food industry. A good recommendation is less than 30 grams a day of added sugar. A can of chili can be 12 grams right there.
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Sugar is not sugar, they all are different.
https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM, don't take my word for it, watch the video.
I gave up on fruit juice a few years ago. We buy our daughter only carbonated water (store-brand, not expensive Perrier) because she gets the joy of drinking a carbonated beverage that tastes great, while avoiding the sugar and calories. And, yes, we load up on our fruit basket with 2-3 servings of everything so she can pick and choose rather than just one offering of something she's likely to grow tired of.
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I realize that everybody's body chemistry is, to some degree, different and that it is impossible to extract any meaningful conclusions based upon a dataset consisting of one person's experience.
But I lost almost a hundred pounds last year (and fully reversed a diagnosis of diabetes) by radically altering my diet to eliminate red meat, animal fat and most carbs and to radically increase my consumption of fresh vegetables, fish and nuts. But in the course of the changes that I made, I continued to squeeze two fresh grapefruit for juice every morning. I was monitoring my progress very closely (e.g., blood tests every other month) and there was never any indication that this morning drink-- which was almost my sole daily source of sugar-- in any way impeded my progress.
So while I understand completely that reaching for that two quart carton of supermarket OJ may be a most unhealthful thing, I think some further research into the moderate daily consumption of fresh juice is warranted.
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I've had the fewest colds during the periods of my life when I faithfully had a small glass of orange juice every day. It contains vitamin C, which has been shown to have tremendous health benefits. As with all things, the trick is to enjoy orange juice in moderation.
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I have a citrus juicer (not electric; a tall-handled one like in Mexico) & a masticating Champion juicer. I juice my own juices & noone will convince me that I'm doing myself harm.
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If and when you get your pre-diabetes diagnosis, be sure to let us know you have been convinced.
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The focus first should be on soda, where there is a long way to go in reducing consumption and resultant obesity, and then fruit juice can be addressed. It seems naturally there is a difference in the "sugar" contained in and derived from fruit and the sugar added to soda -- and virtually all processed foods from ketchup and tomato sauce to breads and cereals. Seemingly science measures the content of sugar in fruit juice, but does not consider how the human body breaks down naturally occurring sugar compared to sugar added in the processing of beverages and foods. Is drinking juice less impactful on tooth decay than eating fruit? Is the body's chemical reaction to drinking orange juice the same as it is to drinking Coca-Cola?
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Fructose is processed by the live, no matter the source of the fructose - soda or fruit.
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The acid in orange juice is terrible for teeth. So it has other negative health consequences besides the sugar. My dentist tells me simply not to drink it, and I mostly take her advice. I love orange juice but I have no illusions about the fact that it simply isn’t a health drink.
It is frustrating to be told that one more food item is unhealthy, but facts are facts. These writers have extremely good credentials and should be listened to.
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The article is very clear; they are just talking about juice. No added sugar. Your ancestors were not eating 2-3 servings of fruit a day, except maybe in summer (and they were drying it for the winter). And our modern fruits are bred for sweetness. I'm a licensed nutritionist; I have met so many people eating a banana or two a day, because "it's healthy". I tell them, this is a very successful marketing campaign.
Any fruit or juice (or carbohydrate), divide total carbs by 4, that is your teaspoons of sugar, equivalent in the body. So one large banana is 31 grams of carbohydrate, or just under 8 teaspoons of sugar.
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The authors should investigate the sources of fertilizer used to grow fruit for making juice.
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Bull manure
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This important article fails to clarify whether bottled juice has sugar added as opposed to whole fruit made juice without sugar added, and whether putting fruit in a home juicer without adding sugar is still unhealthy compared with the fruit whole. It would seem that putting the whole fruit (maybe including rind) into a blender and drinking it would be equivalent to eating it. If not, why?
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Once you juice a fruit, the fiber is lost through the process. So you're left with mostly concentrated sugar.
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Fruit juice doesn’t need added sugars, the naturally occurring sugar is excessive in and of itself. If squeezed (as in a juicer) there is no fiber. Likewise, using a blender destroys much of the fiber, though not as much as using a juicer. Neither method should be considered the equivalent of consuming whole fruit, they are not.
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It doesn’t matter whether it has added sugar or not - most orange juice, for example, has no added sugar. Those 10 tsp are what occurs naturally. It’s the intact fiber of whole fruit that makes the difference versus drinking juice (even in juices where the fiber is still there such as orange juice with pulp). The fiber slows the absorption of the sugar so our bodies are able to process it and we eat less of it. It takes at least 3 oranges to make one cup of orange juice. Lots of people can and do drink that amount or more of juice but most likely are not eating 3 oranges a day (and if they are, the fiber is included)
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Is there any benefit to drinking fresh-squeezed juices with no added sugar?
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Why would anyone add sugar to fresh fruit juice? The whole point of the article was the amount of naturally occurring sugar in fresh fruit juices.
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Yes -- someone needs to answer this simple question. Of course bottled, canned, or boxed pre-made juice is sugary and without many benefits. But what about drinking a glass of juice made from 4 or 5 oranges immediately after squeezing it. Surely the vitamin C brings some benefits (not to mention the pleasure of drinking it sweetness and all)
How about a health article that's a bit more nuanced instead of this simplified clickbait?
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In 1985, while pregnant, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The nutritionist told me never to drink juice because it had too much sugar. I haven’t had juice since nor did I give it to my children even though Capri Suns, etc. were all the rage. The number of kids drinking Gatorade horrified me even more. After all they weren’t running a marathon at lunchtime. This has been known for so long it shocks me it’s even an issue. In my 60’s I have developed type 2 diabetes but I can only imagine how much earlier this would have happened if a regularly drank sugary juices.
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Capri Sun isn't juice. Not even close.
I don't drink juice and fortunately, my mother never served it at home when I was growing up. However, a few years ago, curious about the fuss over "cold pressed" and other specialty juices, I took a browse of some high end bottled juices at the supermarket. All of them had between 50 and 65 grams of sugar! No matter how healthful whatever else is in that bottle, the sugar negates it. If I am going to consume that much sugar in one sitting, whatever it is should at least contain chocolate!
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Now you're talking Sharon! The healthy person says I am allowed a certain amount of food that is at least partially bad and will determine which one is worth the calories/health.
The authors of this article should look at it the way you do, ie juice has good points and bad points and wise consumers like you can make an informed decision or guide your child re this issue.
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To your point: the authors of the article did not distinguish between healthy juice straight from the fruit including pulp and the sugar water junk that is paraded as fruit juice in supermarkets. Anybody interested in health should read the fine print of ingredients and ignore the misleading large print on the labels called "nutrition information."
The authors also provided zero suggestions about what liquids to give kids at meals and in between meals. It is a profoundly misleading article.
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And/or alcohol. At least give me that in return.
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There are lots of different kinds of juice out there these days. Green juices (kale, chard, celery, etc.), juices with carrots, ginger, you name it. The authors are wise to help people (and parents especially) think twice about the health benefits of some juices, but nonetheless, juice is not a single category of identical items and it does a disservice to present it as such.
Perhaps some recommendations on juices that are lower in sugar (like green juices) but that do offer health benefits would have improved the quality of this article. Plus, highlighting the difference between mass-produced juices from concentrate and fresh-made juices (enzymes, etc.) would have also have provided helpful guidance.
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Salad is better than green juice, because it has more fiber. Fiber suppresses hunger.
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I understand your point, but did you ever try to get a kid to drink kale juice?
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Good article. But I'm not sure juice needs to be cut out altogether. What seems to have happened is that the amounts of juice consumed in one sitting have skyrocketed. You refer to a 12-oz glass of orange juice. When I was a kid (in the 1950s) it was unheard-of to drink a whole glass of orange juice (a whole glass then was 8-10 oz, not 12), partly because so many people were still pressing their own. We had what everybody called "juice glasses" that held about 2 ounces. These little glasses sat on the table next to the full glass of milk, which was treated as the staff of life, and was considered part of a well-rounded breakfast. (The milk probably had DDT in it, but oh well.) I remember in the 1960s when companies started advertising diluted orange or grapefruit juice with added sugar as a "refreshing" substitute (e.g., Sunny D) that could be guzzled by the gallon. Then when people went back to real juice they kept up that larger norm, imbibing carb/sugar tsunamis.
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A 6-oz glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice supplies 100% of vitamin C for the day. People in the past drank their OJ for health, not fun. Tomato, pineapple, or grapefruit juice would be used as alternatives but had to be drunk in larger volumes to get a day's worth of C. Since a soda was a treat and not a daily occurance, overall sugar consumed was less.
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I loved those cut crystal juice glasses! That's about all the cold tart beverage I can stand b.c. (before coffee).
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In my family we couldn't afford much fruit juice, so it was served in small 3-4 oz "juice glasses". Even then, we diluted it half with water to make the supply last longer.
Occasionally, when a relative would send us oranges while on a Florida vacation,we had fresh-squeezed orange juice -- which was also diluted with water.
I grew up thinking that was the correct way--looking back, I see that maybe it was.
I stopped drinking and buying juice years ago because the acidity was contributing to a severe heartburn problem. We eat plenty of apples and other fruits out of hand--I see no need for juices.
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I’m getting tired of rigid dietary advice. It’s true we need more education about foods with high glycemic index index and low nutrient value. We could use similar awareness about white bread, chips and crackers etc. However, juice is a broad category of foods, with different relative merits as some have already pointed out. Additionally, different people have different dietary needs. A 14 year old who is growing 6 inches in a year is different than a 50 year old. A baby is different than a competitive triathlete. We need to learn some basic nutritional concepts and stop bossing other people about their food.
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With obesity being the major public health concern that it is, bossing other people about their food is necessary. We all pay for it in the end. And they relative merits of juice are far out weighed by the damage caused by sugar. Yes, a 14 year old can handle the sugar, but not when they are 40 and addicted to it.
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I will never see 80 again and I drink orange juice or V-8 juice every morning and again at night. I am sort of skinny or slim and feel great, and M & M's, little chocolate devils, is my daily snack. Moderation in all things.
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OK, Heidi, let's learn some basic nutritional concepts:
1. Avoid excess sugar. That's what the article is helping us do, by calmly exposing the facts about juice's high sugar content.
2. Eat fresh, whole foods -- like fruit. Again, this article makes that point.
3. A 14-year-old is as susceptible to diabetes as anyone else, and probably needs more help learning to stay away from unhealthy foods.
4. Offering information - such as the article provides - is not "bossing other people about their food"
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The piece perhaps correctly criticizes the false assumption that juice is healthy. However, it is misleading in terms of scale of the problem.
Assuming that the cited data is correct, American adults average 2.31 ounces of juice consumption per day (6.6 gallons per year, as the article states). For orange juice, that equates to about 30 calories and 4.62 g of sugar. That seems like an appropriate, enjoyable snack -- not a public health crisis.
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"Average" is misleading. It includes the numerous people who drink none and creates an impression of low consumption among the rest.
Remember, it's in addition to all the other unnecessary sugar in the diet which is not encompassed in that one statistic.
The article isn't saying juice is the public health crisis. It is saying juice is part of it.
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I do understand how averages work... The authors use the average consumption to substantiate their viewpoint that juice consumption deserves greater attention. My criticism is that the evidence they give does not support that claim.
Most food consumption data is in per capita averages -- such as the ERS Food Availability data series. Datasets that exclude those with no or low consumption is difficult to come by. There are some studies that parse out NHANES results according to percentiles of consumption - from what I can tell, even among those that report drinking orange juice (so excluding those that do not), the 75th percentile is around 8 to 9 ounces per day.
I do not disagree that fruit juice is less nutritious than whole fruit. However, this piece cherry-picks articles to imply that fruit juice is a bad part of the diet. It provides no link to its claim that "drinking fruit juice is associated with [a reduced risk of diabetes]" If you look in Google Scholar at recent peer reviewed articles on fruit juice and diabetes, you will see that results are mixed. It also implies that the presence of fruit juice in the diet is associated with greater soda consumption; however, again, the results appear mixed. There are plenty of scientific articles that found juice consumption was actually associated with healthier diets (NHANES datasets). There is not sufficient space in a comment box to fully address the piece; enough to say the science is not as decided as the piece implies.
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Well then, let's have the standard deviation and info on the shape of the distribution...
1
Florida’s Natural Orange Juice is one of my favorite drinks. I eat a healthy vegetarian diet, rarely drink soda, and I don’t drink huge glasses of OJ. Sometimes I mix it with fizzy water. Life is for living, and I am going to keep my liquid sunshine. Everything good is bad for you.
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I generally drink juice diluted into sparkling water. About 3 parts water to one part juice. I put the entire orange (grapefruit or wherever) in the blender - peel, seeds and all.
All things in moderation.
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YES! I've been saying this for years. Juice is extremely similar to soda and of very limited nutritional value.
The public has been duped by companies who needed some way to monetize all their misshapen and ugly fruit (they juice it!).
If you're a parent, please don't feed your child juice on a daily basis. Treat it like candy or a dessert.
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Nonsense.
4 oz. of juice is fine for every kid in AM along with a little protein and fat (Like an egg). This is not "candy" or "desert."
Doesn't mean drink three quarts of "juice" during day instead of plain water.
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One person's juice is another's poison. Depends on the amount of sugar (natural+ any added) in the juice and a person's ability to maintain normal blood glucose levels and weight. For a diabetics with difficulty in keeping blood glucose normal. sugar consumption has to be watched. Diabetes adult and juvenile and its complications are a major public health concern with increasing incidence and numbers.
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For some reason, the authors seem to assume that all juice is made from fruit. Vegetable juice does exist, for heaven's sake. And it is very possible to make a tasty smoothie with a lot of vegetable and a little fruit.
The benefits of red grape juice, which contains resveratrol, have been documented for many years.
Orange juice has been shown to mitigate the effects of a high-fat meal on arteries.
The professors of pediatrics writing here may or may not have credentials in nutrition or biochemistry. I suspect they don't, because they don't seem to be aware of the many phytonutrients other than vitamins or minerals contained in fruits. Whole fruit is great, but juices are also nutritious and are far more than just sugar. A reasonable amount is fine, especially if you don't eat a bunch of added-sugar foods as well.
Some people even demonize whole fruits these days-- unprocessed foods that have always been part of the human diet. Fruits are grown to have more sugar than they used to, meaning caution is warranted, but unless you have insulin-resistance issues or diabetes they are still a perfectly reasonable food source.
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It's very possible to make a tasty smoothie without any fruit.
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Tomatoes are fruit. Are they also high in sugar? Is V-8 substantially better than tomato juice? I crave both with a squeeze of lemon!
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Vegetable juice is still mostly the sugar and water separates from the fiber.
You should drink vegetable juice only if you also eat ALL of the pulp.
I have started my day with a glass of 100% juice for the last 15 years. I also tend to give my two children a glass of juice depending on what’s served for breakfast as cereal & pancakes may provide enough sugar. I truly have no problem with a glass of fruit deliciousness, what I do have a problem with is the excessive glasses of juice (3-4 cups) that can be consumed over a period of 10 minutes. I do agree that juice does have a lot of sugar, but i typically don’t drink, along with my kids, a 12oz glass of juice. What is lacking from this article is the amount that is consumed in a single sitting. If people are consuming juice ALL DAY LONG, like most do with soda and sports drinks, then there’s a problem. It’s all about moderation people!!!
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Yeah, um, and avoid the pancakes and cereal too. Seriously. Kids are getting type 2 diabetes way more often these days. If your kids are getting lots of physical activity then maybe it's OK, if portions are small and you add in protein and fat. But why not take this opportunity to steer them towards better food options now?
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If I'm reading the above correctly, Daug doesn't serve juice if they're having pancakes or cereal.
My grandmother always taught me: never drink juice from more fruit than you can eat.
You would never eat 5 oranges in one sitting, would you? So don't drink fruit from 5 oranges in one sitting either. Because the sugar content is the same.
On eating, she would simply say: "A little bit of everything and never too much of one thing."
Whenever I show her an article like this, she'll say something like: "These scientists sure do work hard just to find some common sense."
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At the risk of stating the obvious, it's because scientists want to measure and quantify it, see how the rate changes over time and so on... and answer specific questions which common sense is far too vague about.
When the things that scientists discover align with our common sense, we say they're wasting their time studying the obvious. And then when the scientists' findings disagree with our common sense, we say well, they must be wrong.
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I've often eaten five oranges in one sitting. Seems like a much healthier meal than many popular alternatives.
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@Rachel-
It is. Like a bowl of cherries. Or a bowl of fresh plums, peaches and/or cherries.
Thing is, boxed or bottled juice of whatever provenance is processed convenience food; just that, like potato chips. I can make oil-fried or baked salted potato slices and mine taste much better hot off the stove than anything store-bought. But, it takes time and work — a lot of cleanup. Who has time? So why not simply buy a bag of “Maui Chips” or can of “Pringles”? They are almost as good, if you don’t bother to read the label revealing what else is inside the bag.
Why pick, bag, port, wash, rinse and chop fresh fruit when you can simply twist a box- or bottle cap, open its mouth and pour? “Why?” should be obvious. But people forget, or are deceived by brand names, bright labels, clever advertising; lulled into acceptance by group-think if nothing else.
But nothing is free, your convenience especially. If a phrase describes our modern economic culture, one that’s a complete break from the pre-electricity, pre-fossil fuel, pre-fast transportation, pre-refrigeration world our forebears’ knew — “you pay at the pump”. Enormous infrastructures first had to be built on a scale so massive it would have been inconceivable to them just to get a drop of fuel to that nozzle, let alone the next; our actual strategic vulnerability. But what’s true about fuel is true about food — with a caveat: with food, if it’s easy and cheap it’s for a reason that’s simplicity itself: adulteration.
As a pediatric dentist, I treat children with rampant caries (tooth decay) exclusively on referral. I routinely treat children, as young as 14 months, their upper front teeth destroyed, often beyond repair, by sleeping with or carrying around bottles of juice (among other sugary drinks.) We have been led to believe, as the authors state, that juice is a healthy alternative to soda, or as we in Western PA call it, “pop,”) and it is not. Would you put your baby to sleep with a bottle of Mountain Dew? Of course not (though I have treated too many of those toddlers, too.)
Juice is soda without the bubbles.
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There's a great difference between the juice my husband and I start our days with--a fresh pressed juice of vegetables and herbs, with a bit of apple or lemon, plus super-healthy garlic or ginger--and the sugary, pasteurized, packaged stuff on the shelves of grocery isles. Our potions are rich in vitamins, minerals, and enzymes--tremendously nourishing--and, yes, that's juice, too. With all those nutrients, and despite the lack of fiber, we're both slim, fit, and satisfied till lunch. Yay for (fresh, homemade) juice.
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Blending is horrible — it shears the insoluble fiber in fruits and veggies into tiny bits that can no longer slow digestion, essentially turning food into something that’s no better than soda. https://www.motherjones.com/food/2016/03/are-smoothies-devil/
2
Everyone keeps saying that not all juices are created equal, but are missing the point of the argument. At the end of the day, by juicing fruit or vegetables, you're extracting all the sugar with some vitamins and none of the fiber or actual substance. So by having a glass of juice, will end up intaking the equivalent sugar of much more than you could eat of the same food without feeling full, plus the added downside of the sugar high. If you are the type to juice two oranges in a small glass, this article was not for you, because that's like eating two oranges, just less fiber. The point is, juice is as bad as soda, and it is not good for children that we treat it like it is healthy. Staying at a healthy weight is about calories in, calories out through a combination of diet and exercise, and the addictive properties of sugar only make this way harder than it should be. There's just no payoff to habitually drinking calories that just make you hungrier, and natural does not equal healthy.
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