Fruits in their natural forms are good for you. People who eat lots of fruits have fewer weight problems and less diabetes than people who don’t. However, fruit juices, including orange and grapefruit juice, are another story, even if they contain no added sugar. Although fruit juice doesn’t raise blood sugar quite as much as soda or sweetened fruit drinks do, research has linked regular consumption of fruit juice to obesity and diabetes.
Why would fruit in its natural form be good for you but fruit juice be harmful? Most of the sugar in a piece of fruit is in the juice. The squeezing process extracts the sugar from several pieces of fruit and puts it all in one serving of juice. In a sense, then, fruit juice is a sugar sweetened beverage. The juice making process also removes soluble fiber, which slows the absorption of sugar. Thus, the glycemic load of juice is always higher than that of the intact fruit. In addition, fruit juice, like soda, contains fructose, which glycemic load measurement don’t detect.
Although fruit juice raises blood glucose more than whole fruit does, it has less of an appetite satisfying effect. Like other sugar sweetened beverage, it adds to the calories provided by other foods, rather than replacing them. Orange juice, in particular, is a problem. It’s the major source of glucose and raises the risk of diabetes and obesity. The advice is to drink fruit juice only to satisfy a craving for something tangy and never to quench your thirst.
Fruit Juice – Negative effects?
