Juices are everywhere these days. On the aisles of any grocery or convenience store, there is seemingly endless assortment of juices for sale from citrus, apple, mango to mixtures of fruits. At functions, it is normal to serve assorted juices with meals.
There are advertisement on television or in a magazine about healthy benefits of orange juice and other juices. Indeed fruit and vegetable juices are full of chemical substances called antioxidants that can help fight such diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Undeniably fruit and vegetable juices can help meet the daily recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables. But fruit juices can also add lots of extra calories to diet. And not all juices are equally healthful.
The logical reasoning for the consumption of a couple of glasses of fruit juice is that fruits are healthy, therefore fruit juices are healthy. But the logic doesn’t apply to nutrition. Even with no sugar added, zero preservatives, unstrained fruit juice would have the same amount of sugar as a soft drinks, because fruit is full of sugar!
Fruit drinks often contain very little fruit juice and may contain more sugar and calories than soft or carbonated drinks, making them equally bad. Sugary drinks, whether fruit juice, fruit drinks or soda, also contain fructose, which has been identified as one of the primary culprits in the sudden rise of obesity and related health problems.
Many fruit juices have higher sugar (fructose) content than sweetened soft drinks. For example, grape juice has 50 per cent more sugar than common soft drinks.
No doubt, few individuals know that many commercial fruit juices sold in grocery shops are not 100 per cent juice. And even when they are 100 per cent juice, they lack the fibre of whole fruit. Also, some juices use concentrated white grape juice as a sweetener, making them higher in simple sugars and calories even though they can still truthfully claim to be 100 per cent fruit juice.
How healthy really is fruit juice? Several studies have thrown significant doubt on the real health benefits of fruit juices. Recent scientific studies and a new government-sponsored documentary in the US have questioned the health benefits of drinking fruit juice.
Fruit juice contains calories. Just like any other food or calorie-containing drink, too much fruit juice can contribute to weight gain.
One study conducted by Deakin University researchers found that the more fruit juice Australian school children drank, the more likely they were to be overweight compared with children who didn’t drink fruit juice. A similar link between increased fruit juice consumption and weight gain has been seen in children from low-income families.
The American Academy of Paediatrics thought that it was enough a danger to issue a policy statement about ‘The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Paediatrics’. According to the AAP, drinking too much juice can contribute to obesity, the development of tooth decay, diarrhoea, and other gastrointestinal problems, such as excessive gas, bloating and abdominal pain.
Research has found that some fruit juices contain so much sugar that they actually raise the risk of certain types of cancer. Scientists claim that fruit juice contains so much sugar. It actually increases the risk of certain cancers, rather than preventing them.
They said that by the time the drink had been processed and packaged, many of the ingredients in fruit that protect against tumours might have been lost.
Australian researchers, who had sought to establish how effective different fruits, vegetables and juices were at preventing the development of bowel cancer, examined the diets of 2,200 adults. They filled in a questionnaire detailing their daily eating habits. The team then tracked the participants for two years to see how many of them developed the disease.
Unsurprisingly, they found that eating apples, sprouts, cauliflower or broccoli on a daily basis all reduced the likelihood. However, those who consumed lots of fruit juice had a higher risk.
The research, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that those drinking more than three glasses a day were more likely to develop rectal cancer, a form of bowel cancer.
Scientists believe the high sugar content in juice may trigger certain tumours, suggesting also that many things found in fruit which help protect against bowel cancer – including fibre, vitamin C and chemicals known as antioxidants – are lost during the juice’s processing.
Dr Jimoh Olaoye, a principal medical officer, Oyo State Hospital Management Board, Ibadan, stated that all juices, irrespective of whether it is made naturally at home or commercially packed, should be taken in moderation.
According to him, all juices, aside the vitamins and minerals they might contain, also contain calories and as such taking them in large amounts with normal meals every day will over time contribute to weight gain.
He stated, “juices can send the blood sugar soaring, especially in people with impairment of glucose like diabetes.”
However, in taking fruit juices, Dr Olaoye stated that home made juices are healthier than the commercially available juices considering that additives such as sweeteners, colorants and preservatives are usually added.
What is more, Mr Tunde Ajobo, a dietician at the University College hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State stated that the assumption that commercially available fruits juices could replace whole fruits was wrong because such drinks were not the same category as eating fruit with all its fibre, vitamins, minerals and nutrition. it was important for people with high blood pressure, those overweight or diabetic to also restrict their intake of fruit juices.
Everybody needs to keep in mind that many commodities being sold, including fruit juices, are produced to make capital not to enhance your health. So instead of reaching out for a glass of fruit juice, take a fresh piece of delicious fruit.
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