Fruit Juices are only half good! by Medimanage.com

Fruit Juices are only half good! by Medimanage.com

The Goodness of Fruit = Goodness of Fruit juice, right??

Wrong, there is a vast difference between nutrients what a whole fruit offers and what juice provides you with.

Why? Just rewind to how you squeeze the juice out of the fruit. You take 3-4 fruits, peeled even cut into pieces, put it into the grinder, squeeze the juice, add a bit of sugar or even salt. Now you filter and pour it into a glass. You might consume it there and then or just keep it and have it after some time.

You lose the nutrients in the entire process. How?

First you peel it and lose the skin. Skins of fruits like apples, chikoo, pear, strawberry, plums are edible.  Skin is where the fruit is in contact with sunlight and the pigments in it contain nutrients that protect our health and provide nourishment. According some of the studies, the skin of grapes can prevent cancer and provide protection from UV light.

Next, you cut the fruits into pieces and the surface of the fruit is in contact with air. Here the anti oxidants that the fruit contains and which are supposed to be oxidized within the body are oxidized outside.

Remember how freshly cut apples turn brown.

Now, you filter the juice which removes the last bit of fibre in the pulp after the skin. In oranges, the white pulpy part is the primary source of flavonoids which are anti oxidants and which play an important role in fighting chronic diseases like Diabetes, heart diseases and stroke. The orange part which remains mainly contains vitamin C. In the body, flavonoids and vitamin C often work together, and support health through their interaction.

Loss of fibre renders the juice half empty. For ex. One glass of apple juice contains 3-4 apples. Each of these 3-4 apples contains about 3.75 grams of dietary fibre, for a total of about 12-15 grams of dietary fibre. Virtually all of these 12-15 grams are lost in the production of clear apple juice! These 12-15 grams of lost fibre, if added back into the juice, would fully double our dietary fibre intake.

Then you add sugar to the juice- A bad move.

The sugar that a fruit already contains is called as fructose, and though it is natural; it is high in calories.

So for people who consume Fruit juices as a healthy option to lose weight in place of other foods should know that fruit juices contain just the concentrated sugars that lacks the supportive nutrients that helps it digest and metabolize.

Fruit juices elevate blood sugar more quickly than whole fruit, and the level of sugar that can be obtained from fruit juice is higher than the level found in whole fruit. For example, 120 calories’ worth of whole apples contains about 24 grams of sugar, while 120 calories’ worth of apple juice contains about 30 grams.

Adding sugar to a fruit juice just makes it worse.

But it’s not all bad…

“Fruit juices are definitely better than soft drinks” says nutritionist Dr. Shweta Iyengar, “they are a good source for vitamins” she adds.

Fruit juices are good for those who dislike eating fruits directly or for those who are too weak or suffering from a disease.

In fact as it quickly increases the glucose level in the blood it is good energy booster post work out or any intense activity. To read more about  Fruit Juices are only half good!

Related posts:

1. Fruit Juices ? Improves Your Skin and Health
2. Is Fruit Juice A Good Substitute For Real Whole Fruit?
3. Is Fruit Juice a Good Substitute For Real Whole Fruit
4. Fresh Fruit Juices Benefits
5. Acne Program – Step 6 Juices You Should be Drinking

Tags: Anti Oxidants, Apple Juice, Apples, Chronic Diseases, Dietary Fibre, Edible Skin, Flavonoids, Fruit, Fruit Juice, Fruit Juices, Good, Grapes, Grinder, half, Heart Diseases, Juices, Medimanage.com, Nourishment, Nutrients, only, Oranges, Pigments, Plums, Primary Source, Uv Light, Vitamin C

This entry was posted on July 30, 2010 at July 30, 2010 and is filed under Fruit Juices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.