Prepackaged juices

The most popular are store-bought bottled or boxed juices. They are enjoyed by adults and especially small children. However, most of the minerals and vitamins are lost during the preparation and storage of these drinks. Companies also add a lot of sugar, stabilizers, flavoring, and coloring agents to the juices. As a consequence, they contain a lot of calories and are not good for your health or your figure.

Make it yourself

Freshly squeezed juices are a much less unambiguous product, as they have both pros and cons.

Pros Lots of vitamins and minerals. It takes several fresh fruits or vegetables to make a glass of juice, so the drink contains a very high concentration of vitamins, minerals, and plant chemicals.

Easy to digest. Nutrients from the juice are easier to digest than from whole fruits and vegetables because the digestive system doesn't have to put effort into digesting fiber.

Beneficial for the immune system. Due to its high concentration of vitamins and minerals, juice strengthens the immune system and also helps to eliminate toxins from the body.

Support for the cardiovascular system. Some studies show that drinking freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices leads to increased levels of nitric oxide in the blood. Nitric oxide opens blood vessels and lowers blood pressure, promoting healthy and elastic blood vessels.

Cons Lack of fiber. Fiber is extremely important for digestive health. It also makes you feel full, so you consume fewer calories. However, the fiber is removed when fruits and vegetables are juiced.

Empty calories. Our bodies don't process the calories we get from juice, so we don't feel satiated and therefore keep eating. However, there can be 150 or more kilocalories in a glass of juice.

Drink no more than 4 ounces (113 grams) of juice daily, dilute it with water or ice cubes to quench your thirst, and limit the amount of sugar you consume.

A spike in blood sugar levels. Fruit juice lacks fiber, which slows the absorption of sugar. This causes blood glucose levels to spike.

Weight gain. Essentially, juice is a source of concentrated sugar and calories. So drinking one cup of apple juice, for example, is like eating the sugar and calories contained in three whole apples, but without the fiber.

Make as much juice as you can drink at one time because harmful bacteria multiply quickly in freshly squeezed juice.

What should you make of all this?

Adding up all the pros and cons, you can draw these conclusions:

• There is nothing but harm in packaged juices.
• The amount of freshly squeezed fruit juices in the diet should be limited and consumed more as a dessert than as a substitute for water.
• People who want to lose weight and those with diabetes should be, especially careful consuming juices.

29 May 2023