Fruit Juices- Not As Healthy As You Thought

There has been a long ongoing controversy about whether fruit juices are healthy or not. Most people consider them a great option to complete their daily fruit requirement since they are much easier to consume.

Lots of people replace soda and carbonated drinks with fruit juices thinking that they are moving towards a healthier option. There are even detox diets which claim to help you lose weight by just drinking fruit juices. They might help you in the short run but the fact is there is not much difference between a tall glass of fruit juice and a bottle of carbonated drink minus the fizz.

But why is that? Fruits are healthy right? Then how come their liquid form be unhealthy? Well, eating a fruit and drinking a glass of fruit juice are two completely different things. There is a whole lot of difference between both in the way you consume them and in their nutritional content. So, let’s find out why don’t fruit juices actually deserve the “healthy” tag which they have adorned for so long?

1. They Are High On Sugar

Fruit juices have a high fructose content which means they are high sugar drinks. Now how did that happen? Fruit juices are made from fruits, so if juices are high on sugar even the fruit should be high on sugar. That’s what logic says!!

Well, this logic doesn't work here. To get just a small cup of orange juice you must be juicing somewhere close to 2 or 4 medium sized oranges and I am sure no one puts in the effort to juice 2 oranges and have just a cup of juice. Imagine eating 8-10 oranges in a day, you probably won’t have more than 2 if you had to eat it and not drink it. Juicing makes you consume the sugar from just too many fruits, obviously the sugar content is going to be high for one day.

But wait I am not done yet!!

When we eat a whole fruit our body digests it slowly. Unlike juice, the sugar in the fruit is bound within fibres and it takes time to slowly break it down over a period of time. Also, the fructose or sugar is metabolised by our liver and the poor thing can metabolise only certain amounts at a time. When we overload it with a sudden sugar rush in the form of juice it metabolises only a part of it and the rest is converted to fat. Some of this fat gets stored in the liver causing fat buildup and insulin resistance, this is exactly what happens when you drink soda and other sugary drinks too. (1, 2, 3)

Now look at some numbers, the average daily sugar consumption should be somewhere around 10g per day. 12-ounce or .354 litre soda contains roughly 35 to 45 grams of sugar. Orange juice is close by the same amount of orange juice contains 30 grams; apple juice has 40 grams and pomegranate juice tops with 45 grams !!

Although fruit juices contain vitamins and minerals that are mostly absent in other sugary drinks, the level of sugar is too high to set off any benefit that you might get from these nutrients.

If you are still not convinced, try a test. 1 teaspoon sugar contains 4.2 grams. Scoop out 8-10 teaspoons of sugar and dissolve it in a glass of water. Now drink it, did you find it too sweet? This is the amount of sugar you consume in a glass of fruit juice.

Also Read: Carb Cycling- What Is It and How It Helps To Lose Weight?

2. Liquid Calories Are Worse Than Solid Calories

There is a unique fact about liquid foods, they are more fattening than solid foods. A single calorie from fruit juice will not be the same as from a whole fruit.

Why is that?

Not all foods follow the same metabolic path and they affect our body, hormones, and brain in different ways. Liquid foods have much more concentrated calories. Just as I mentioned above you can consume 4 oranges in just a cup of juice. But drinking a cup of juice won’t reduce the calories in it, you are actually taking in the calories from 4 oranges.

The other unique thing about liquid calories is they don’t have a filling effect. If you ate 1 or 2 fruit you might not want to eat for the next 2-3 hours but drinking a glass of juice won’t make you feel full and you will end up eating something else with it and increasing your calorie intake further. (4)

That’s why sugary drinks are the biggest contributor to obesity. One study in children showed that the risk of obesity was increased by 60% for each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages (5).

3. They Lack Fiber

This is a no brainer. Converting a fruit into juice requires a lot of processing, it’s pasteurised, pulverised, filtered, pureed and stored in massive containers for months with preservatives added to it, which rips off all its nutrients. Even if you opt for fresh juice just around the corner of your house it still lacks the fiber.

Since now there is no fiber to the fruit there is nothing to slow down its digestion. The moment it enters your body there is a sudden rise in insulin due to all the extra sugar. Had there been the fiber it would have slowed down the sugar release into the bloodstream.

Followed by the insulin rise your brain will trigger a deep craving for some unhealthy carbs. Let me explain why? Our brain has a reward centre which is responsible for addiction and cravings. When someone is a drug addict this centre is activated the moment he/she takes the dose and this makes him/her feel elated. Time and again the reward centre will demand another dose and will render the addict helpless.

This is what happens when you take high-calorie and high-sugar foods regularly. They act like drugs for your brain and activate the reward centre making you crave for the same high-calorie and high-sugar food and you will not be able to suppress your craving for long. For example, research has found that adults who drank apple juice before a meal felt hungrier and ate more calories than those who started with an apple instead.

Also Read: Counting Calories? Stop Being Stupid !

4. Juices and Health Don’t Go Hand In Hand

Recent studies have indicated that it’s linked with increased insulin resistance and diabetes risk, whereas whole fruit consumption appears not to have the same health-eroding effect.

Remember this as a thumb rule, any food which spikes your insulin level suddenly when consumed over time is bound to damage the body’s natural insulin response. Over time the body might become insulin resistant or insulin sensitive and that’s the cause of so many diseases. A screwed metabolism, obesity, diabetes, etc will follow eventually.

Studies have shown that liquid sugar can cause insulin resistance, raise triglycerides, increase LDL cholesterol, elevate oxidised LDL cholesterol and cause belly fat accumulation in less than 10 weeks (6).

In one study conducted on fruit juice, 480 ml (16 ounces) of grape juice per day for 3 months caused insulin resistance and increased waist circumference in overweight individuals (7).

In another study, consuming 2 or more servings of fruit juice per day was associated with more than a doubled risk of gout in women (8).

Several studies show that fruit juice is linked to an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, while the whole fruit is linked to a decreased risk (9, 10).

5. Quit Juices Live Longer

This might sound like an exaggeration but it’s definitely true. A recent study has come out that claims consuming fruit juices can lead to early death. The study found an increased risk of dying early for people who consumed a lot of sugary drinks and fruit juices were also included.

What’s even more surprising is that fruit juices are even worse than cola and lemonade. US researchers compared, for the first time, 100 percent fruit juices with sugar-sweetened beverages such as cola and lemonade.

The research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), analysed data from 13,440 people. Their intake of sugary drinks and 100 percent fruit juices was recorded via a questionnaire on how often they consumed the drinks.

Some of the factors that the researchers identified lead to an early death may be due to the high fructose and glucose content in fruit juices. Fructose alters blood lipid levels, markers of inflammation and blood pressure, while high glucose consumption has been associated with insulin resistance and diabetes.

However, this does not mean you can’t enjoy a glass of fresh juice once in a while. 150ml of juice per day has no significant impact on health.

Also Read: 11 Common Food Additives You Should Keep Out Of Your Diet

Bottomline

Most of us are already eating way too much sugar in our daily lives all thanks to the processed foods loaded with sugar. We definitely don’t need a new source to further increase the intake.  Instead of juice, eat your fruit whole. This way, you get all the fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals found naturally in the fruit.

Feel free to browse through my other health tips. Follow me on Instagram to get your daily dose of health tips.

Have a suggestion ? Please leave a comment.