Is Fruit Juice Bad For Your Health?

Whether you've been hit by the much sought after juicing fad or like lapping up those fresh blends for the love of fruit, this new research will certainly get your eyes rolling. Researchers from the British government's 'National Diet and Nutrition Survey' suggest limiting your fruit juice consumption to once a day due to its high sugar content. According to their report, young people aged between 11 to 19 are consuming about 47 percent too much sugar from fruit juices, soft drinks, cereal bars, biscuits and cakes. "Fruit juice should only be drunk once a day and with a meal because it can be high in sugar," said Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England, the Government agency that released the survey. The report showed that children aged 10 and under exceed the recommended daily limit of sugar by a shocking 34 percent! The survey, which involved 4,000 adults and children between 2008 and 2012, also touched upon other growing health concerns. It reported that about 48 percent of men and women have above-normal levels of cholesterol, which sets the stage for heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes and obesity now or in the future.
 

Since this research takes away from the healthiness of fruit juices, we compared the calories  between juices, coconut water and soft drinks, just to get a clear picture. Previous studies have established the fact that drinking fruit juice is definitely not as healthy as eating the fruit itself. Too much of fructose or fruit sugar has been identified as the problem. Fruit juices make your blood glucose levels rise faster than whole fruits. What one should note here is that, health experts claim that fruits juices may have the similar effect on our body like fizzy drinks. Most of us are already aware of the fact that soft drinks have been touted as the culprits due to the high levels sugar that they slyly contain. If you go by a report filed by the World Health Organization, the sugar intake should just be 5 percent of the total calories consumed in a day. It turns out that coconut water comfortably wears the halo of health for having the least calories amongst these drinks. A cup of coconut water contains about 46 calories which is less than what most fruit juices contain and definitely less than those sugar laden soft drinks. This nature's very own energy drink is packed with potassium, has much less sugar and could be a better choice to keep you hydrated. With inputs from IANS