Fresh-eat-grape: Prafulla.net – Overview of Good and Bad about Juices

Life Style | Editor | April 8, 2012 1:49 pm [91 views ]

Who doesn’t enjoy a tall, cool glass of juice? The color is vibrant, the taste sweet, and it’s good for you, too. Not so fast, say some dietitians. Although the best kinds of juice deliver a bounty of vitamins, the worst are hardly better than liquid candy. WebMD helps you spot the difference.

Best Choice: Vegetable Juice

Drinking your veggies is a convenient way to add powerful plant-based nutrients to your diet. The lycopene in tomato juice appears to lower the risk of prostate cancer. Beet juice may reduce blood pressure. Pulpy vegetable juice is also packed with fiber that can help control hunger. And all of these benefits come without a catch. Vegetable juice has far less sugar and fewer calories than the typical fruit juice, but it is high in sodium unless you choose the low salt version.

Worst Choice: Juice ‘Cocktails’
Be on alert for the terms juice cocktail, juice-flavored beverage, or juice drink. Most of these products contain only small amounts of real juice. The main ingredients are usually water and some type of sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup. Nutritionally, these drinks are similar to most soft drinks — rich in sugar and calories, but low in nutrients. Research suggests that sugary fruit drinks put kids at risk for obesity and related health problems. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommends water over sugary drinks.

The 100% Fruit Juice Dilemma
What about pure fruit juice with no added sweeteners? Such an innocent-sounding drink has sparked endless debate. No one disputes the fact that real fruit juice is loaded with vitamins and disease-fighting antioxidants. The problem is juice can also be naturally high in sugar and calories. A cup of pure apple juice can have as much sugar as some candy bars. That’s why many experts recommend sticking to one juice serving per day.

Good Choice: Pomegranate Juice

If you’re only going to drink one glass of juice each day, you want to make it a good one. So let’s explore which juices offer the biggest nutritional payoff per sip. Pomegranate juice tops the list. It’s high in sugar and calories, but delivers an abundant dose of antioxidants. These substances appear to protect brain function and may ward off cancer. In one study, 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily reduced the recurrence of prostate cancer.

Good Choice: Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice is packed with vitamin C, which is vital to a healthy immune system. There is also evidence to support a folk remedy — drinking unsweetened cranberry juice may help reduce your risk of urinary tract infections.

Good Choice: Blueberry Juice

Substances in blueberries may help keep the brain healthy. In a small study, researchers looked at the effect of blueberry juice on memory in adults in their seventies who had age-related memory decline. Those who drank 2 1/2 cups of blueberry juice for 12 weeks had significant improvement on learning and memory tests compared to those who drank a non-juice beverage. So choose blueberry juice to boost brain health.

Good Choice: Acai Berry Juice

Researchers have only begun looking into the health benefits of acai juice, which is made from a berry found in South America. But early studies are promising. Acai pulp appears to have a higher concentration of antioxidants than cranberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries.

Good Choice: Cherry Juice

Besides delivering a wealth of antioxidants, some berry juices appear to have anti-inflammatory properties. According to one study, drinking cherry juice before and after your work-out can reduce exercise-induced muscle pain.

Good Choice: Red Grape Juice

We’ve all heard that red wine, in moderation, can be good for the heart. The same is true of red grape juice. Red grape juice contains potent antioxiodants — flavanoids and resveratrol. The key is that wine and juice are made with the entire grape — seeds, skin, and all. When you eat fresh grapes, you miss out on nutrients hiding in the seeds.

Good Choice: Prune Juice

Another viable folk remedy, prune juice has long been recommended to relieve constipation. It works because it’s extremely high in fiber and contains a natural laxative called sorbitol. But the benefits of prune juice don’t stop there. The juice is also packed with antioxidants, iron, and potassium.

What About Orange Juice?

It’s a staple at breakfast, but does this popular juice carry its weight? The good news is orange juice is loaded with vitamin C, a star for its immune-boosting benefits. In addition, orange juice is often fortified with calcium and vitamin D, nutrients that strengthen the bones. Unsweetened orange juice has fewer calories than some berry juices or grape juice. The trade-off is that it also has fewer antioxidants overall.

Kids and Juice
Most children love juice, but the American Academy of Pediatrics has set clear guidelines on how much is too much. For kids younger than 6, the AAP recommends no more than 4 to 6 ounces of pure fruit juice per day. For ages 7 to 18, the suggested amount is 8 to 12 ounces.

Water It Down
If you or your kids crave more than a single cup of juice per day, try watering it down. By mixing water or sparkling water and juice, you slash the calories in every serving. Instead of drinking one glass of pure juice, you can enjoy two or three cups of the water-juice mixture throughout the day.

Go for Whole Fruit
Dietitians say a great alternative to guzzling fruit juice is to eat the whole fruit. This provides fiber and additional nutrients from the flesh and pulp. Unlike juice, fresh berries or orange wedges also help control hunger.

Pros and Cons

Jennifer Barr, a Wilmington, Del., dietitian, occasionally makes fresh juice as a snack for her kids. Her favorite juice combines kale, carrots, ginger, parsley, and apples. She then adds the leftover pulp from her juicing machine into muffins.

“If you’re not big into fruits and vegetables, it’s a good way to get them in. It can help you meet daily recommendations in one drink” and be part of a healthy diet, says Barr, MPH, RD, LDN, who works at Wilmington’s Center for Community Health at Christiana Care Health System.

But you shouldn’t count on juicing as your sole source of fruits and vegetables.

“Don’t think because you’re juicing that you’re off the hook with eating fruits and vegetables,” says Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD, CSSD, an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesman and founder of Eating Free, a weight management program.

Aim to eat two whole fruits, and three to four vegetables a day. They should come in different colors, as the colors have different vitamins and minerals, Barr says.

What’s Left Out

A juicing machine extracts the juice from whole fruits or vegetables. The processing results in fewer vitamins and minerals, because the nutrient-rich skin is left behind. Juicing also removes the pulp, which contains fiber.

You can add some of the leftover pulp back into the juice or use it in cooking.

Besides muffins, Barr uses other combinations — such as spinach, pears, flaxseed, celery, and kale — to make broth for cooking soup, rice, and pasta. She calls it “going the extra step to fortify your meals.”

Juicers can be expensive, ranging from $50 to $400. Some more expensive juicers will break down a lot of the fruit by grinding the core, rind, and seeds, Barr says.

You may not need a juicing machine to make juice. You can use a blender for most whole fruits or vegetables to keep the fiber — add water if it becomes too thick, Villacorta says.

You’ll also want to remove seeds and rinds, and some skins.

Calorie Count

As with any food, it’s important to consider calories and sugar content.

A medium piece of fruit has about 60 calories. A cup of vegetables has about 25 calories, and 3 cups of leafy greens have about 25 calories. Each 60-calorie serving of fruit equals about 4 ounces of juice. A typical juice is usually 12 to 16 ounces.

Those calories add up.

“You could be taking up to four fruits and now the calories start adding up. If you use vegetables to juice, the calories are a lot less. If they use mainly vegetables, add an apple or kiwi for flavor. Calories are a concern if it’s pure fruit juice,” Villacorta says.

To make a juice more balanced with protein, some good sources are almond milk, Greek yogurt, flaxseed, or peanut butter.

Food Safety and Juicing

When juicing, follow these food safety guidelines:

Wash your hands before touching the fruits and vegetables.
Thoroughly clean the produce.
Use hot, soapy water if you have to hand wash the juicer or blender. Let all parts completely dry before putting away, to prevent bacterial growth.
Use your dishwasher’s sanitize cycle if the juicer is dishwasher safe.
Don’t keep juice longer than a week. It’s best to drink it the same day, since the juice isn’t pasteurized.

Juicing Health Claims

There are many health claims about juicing on the Internet. For instance, juicing fans say that juicing can reduce your risk of cancer and boost your immune system.

It’s true that eating a plant-based diet is linked to lower risk of heart disease or cancer. But there hasn’t been a lot of research done that’s specific to juicing.

There is some research on juicing and immune system, but any immune system benefits probably come from eating fruits and vegetables, whether it’s in juice or not, Barr says.

Fans of juicing also say that juicing is better than eating whole fruits and vegetables because the body can absorb the nutrients better and it gives the digestive system a rest from working on fiber.

But “the nutrients might not have the same potential because you’ve processed them,” Villacorta says. “There’s nothing like eating the whole fruit or vegetable.”

It’s true that too much fiber can sometimes block the absorption of nutrients. But most people don’t even get the recommended amount of fiber per day, Villacorta says.

It’s important to speak with your health-care provider before integrating juicing into your diet to avoid any potential food and drug interactions.

For instance, large amounts of foods high in vitamin K, such as kale and spinach, may change how an anti- blood clotting medication works, Barr says.

Juicing for Weight Loss and Cleansing

Juicing as an extreme weight loss measure is a fad diet. You can’t stick to it for long — and you shouldn’t.

On a juice-only diet, you may not get enough fiber to make you full. And it’s so limited that you may rebel.

“If you’re doing a juicing diet, you’ll be so tempted to eat something like a cake or donut because you’ve restricted yourself,” Barr says.

You may also not get enough protein. If you are trying to lose weight by only juicing, then you are putting yourself at risk to lose muscle mass. Research shows that adding protein is essential to preserve muscle mass during weight loss.

By the end of any extreme diet, your metabolism may have temporarily slowed down. Once you start eating a more normal diet, you’ll be prone to building fat cells, Villacorta says.

What about juicing as a way to detox or cleanse your body? “I haven’t seen any research or science paper to support that cleansing is happening from juicing,” Villacorta says.

Your liver and kidneys take care of that — whether you’re juicing or not.