Juicing Unlocks More Vitamins, but Also Calories and Sugar
Juicing proponents say it’s a great way to add more vitamins and phytonutrients to your diet. Fruit juice has also been criticized as a sugary fiber- free drink, not better for you than cola . Really? New research shows that orange juice does make certain nutrients more available to your body, but not enough to recommend juice over whole fruit.
So is orange juice good for you? It depends on whether it helps you achieve your goals . If you’re trying to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet (as many of us do ), sugar problems may outweigh the benefits you get from additional micronutrients.
Here’s what to really showed the study , published in the issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry for this month. The researchers squeezed and pasteurized some orange juice, then put samples of the juice and orange slices into a test tube simulator that mimics what’s going on in your digestive system. The juice made much higher levels of carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamin C available for digestion than orange slices or even puree made from slices. For example, the juice had four times the amount of carotenoids (a group of chemicals associated with vitamin A), but only 10% of the fiber found in orange slices.
When NPR asked experts for their opinion on the study, several noted that other studies show that juicing also makes sugar more readily available, leading to higher spikes in blood sugar. Eating these calories in a few sips of liquid can also mean that you don’t perceive them as filling, as if you ate a whole orange.
So is juice good for you? It all depends on how you look at it. But for most of us, an entire orange is the best choice.
Which is more nutritious: orange juice or orange? It is difficult | NPR