Many people believe that juices are the quintessence of fruits and berries – they contain all the most beneficial fruits, and in a more concentrated form. Others prefer whole fruits. New research supports the fruit’s reputation.
To drink or not to drink?
The war between fruits and juices has been going on for a long time. This is even reflected in official nutritional recommendations in different countries: some directly include juices as part of a healthy, balanced diet, others recommend limiting their consumption to one glass a day, equating it to a serving of fruit, and still others advise avoiding juices altogether.
According to experts, people prefer to drink more than chew: adherence to consumption of whole fruits in general is relatively low.
Two main disadvantages of juices
Juices, even 100% juices, have two weak points. The first is that they contain a lot of sugars, as much as colas and other sodas. And it’s very bad. There is indisputable evidence that high consumption of drinks contributes to the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes, and therefore related heart and vascular diseases. The second “Achilles heel” is that juices contain little very useful fiber; it remains in the squeezed fruit. This is fraught with problems with digestion, cholesterol and even oncology.
Advantages and disadvantages
On the other hand, juices contain beneficial substances from fruits – vitamins, minerals and polyphenols. Do they outweigh the harm from excess sugars and lack of fiber?
This study aimed to investigate polyphenols in 100% fruit juices. These substances are antioxidants and are very beneficial. They protect blood vessels from atherosclerosis, prevent the development of cancer, hypertension and aging. Their ability to influence metabolism and risk factors for heart and vascular diseases was assessed. It is well known that they have this effect in fruits, berries and vegetables. But with juices everything turned out not so optimistic.
Better to chew than drink
The total content of polyphenols had virtually no effect. Only one of their varieties, anthocyanins, reduced total cholesterol and LDL (the so-called “bad cholesterol” – approx. healthcust). Every 100 mg per day increase in juice intake was associated with a 1.53 mg/dL decrease in total cholesterol and a 1.94 mg/dL decrease in bad cholesterol. There were no other effects of anthocyanins on blood triglycerides, glucose, or blood pressure.
This is, of course, good, but overall the study suggests that even 100% fruit juices are not very healthy compared to whole fruits. And preference should be given to the latter.
Anthocyanins themselves are very useful; they are pigments that give fruits and flowers their dark purple, blue and red colors. Most of them are in the skin of berries, fruits and some vegetables. The champion in the amount of anthocyanins is blackberries, there are also a lot of them in blueberries, blueberries, serviceberries, black currants, chokeberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries, elderberries, grapes, eggplants, red cabbage, beets, tomatoes, red peppers. All these gifts of nature are super healthy, and you should try to include them in your diet every day.
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