When your mom said, "Eat your fruit, honey," she probably didn't mean you should drink it.
Fruit lends itself not only as a good source of vitamins and minerals, but also prevents hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and even some forms of cancer. If fruit is so good for your health, can juice offer you the same benefits?
"Juice is not the best [choice] because it lacks fiber," said Kaye Stanek Krogstrand, registered dietician and associate professor of nutrition and health sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Ounce for ounce even the [juices] with fiber are nowhere near the amount found in whole fruits."
This is because the majority of fiber and vitamins of a fruit are found in its peel and bulk. In terms of an apple, the bulk would be its white, crunchy interior. You would have to drink 18 cups of apple juice to get the same amount of fiber found in one apple, according to a December 2007 Nutrition Action article.
Even if juice is fortified, not all juices are created equal.
"Some of the products out there people think are juice aren't really," Krogstrand said.
Even UNL has no official definition of juice, said Pam Edwards, assistant director of university dining services.
By most common use, the most popular [juice in the dining halls] is apple juice, followed by orange, cranberry, grape, pineapple, cranberry grape, grapefruit and tomato, Edwards said.
The apple and orange juice are the only two that are 100 percent juice. The grape juice is a mix of apple and pear concentrate with grape juice. And the cranberry, pineapple and cranberry grape juices contain mostly sweetener.
Another reason juice doesn't compare to fruit is because of its calorie content. One eight-ounce serving of Tropicana orange juice has 110 calories, compared to the 62 calories of a single orange.
"The added extra sugar is mostly empty carbohydrates that fill you up," Krogstrand said.
Juice can also be problematic because it's a little too easy to drink, Edwards said.
"Most people would lose sense of the caloric value and have the potential of consuming more calories," Edwards said. "It's a lot easier to drink your calories."
All good things, including juice, come in moderation. Krogstrand said it's best to drink no more than four to six ounces a day, roughly half a cup of juice.
And both Krogstrand and Edwards suggest making up for the other servings of juice by actually eating fruits.
samrifkin@dailynebraskan.com
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