People often recommend having juice instead of soda. However, it gives a misleading impression of being healthy since it comes from fruit.When you check the sugar content in juice, you might change your mind! A medium-sized glass of freshly squeezed juice usually has about 11 teaspoons of sugar. Even though it’s natural and not the same as refined sugar, it’s still sugar, and you miss out on the fiber you’d get from eating the whole fruit. For instance, a 12-ounce glass of orange juice has almost the same sugar as a can of Coke, which is around 10 teaspoons.
Fruit Juice is Loaded with Sugar
To make a glass of fresh orange juice, you need about 3 to 4 oranges, which is way more than what we would usually eat if we just had the whole fruit. In fact, a glass of fresh orange juice has a lot of sugar, mostly fructose, which our bodies absorb really quickly. Because of this, our bodies can’t really tell the difference between drinking orange juice and a soda like Coke. However, this quick absorption doesn’t happen when we eat the whole fruit, especially with the skin on. Eating the whole fruit gives us a lot of fiber and antioxidants that slow down how fast fructose is absorbed. Plus, when we eat whole fruits, we feel fuller for longer, which helps counteract any negative effects that fructose might have on our metabolism.
Drinking juice is not as healthy as eating whole fruit.
Juicing takes away a crucial part of whole fruits and vegetables: fiber. Even though our bodies can’t digest fiber, it’s still super important for a healthy diet. Fiber slows down how quickly sugar is absorbed and helps keep blood sugar levels steady. So, even though the sugar content in fruit and its juice is the same, juice has a much higher glycemic index. Fruit juice lacks the fiber that would normally help slow down sugar absorption. This quick spike in sugar can cause problems like energy crashes and even long-term issues like weight gain or type 2 diabetes.(source)
Fructose is metabolized in the liver the same way as alcohol
Unlike glucose, which our body uses for energy, fructose is mostly processed in the liver, where it turns into fat. If we eat too much fructose, more than what our body actually needs, it leads to a lot of fat buildup, especially in the liver and then throughout the rest of the body. Our bodies can handle about 25 grams of fructose each day, which is roughly what you’d get from just two servings of fruit. A single glass of fresh juice can have around 40 grams of fructose, and it gets into our bloodstream really quickly. Our bodies aren’t built to deal with that much sugar at once.
This can raise the chances of developing diabetes, heart disease, and liver problems. Additionally, eating too much fructose can mess with how the liver communicates with the intestines, muscles, and fat tissue, which can really throw off our body’s metabolic balance.
Store Bought Juice is Junk
The juice you see on supermarket shelves might not be what you expect. Even if it says “100% pure” and “not from concentrate,” there’s more to the story. After the juice is extracted from the fruit, it’s pretty standard. But before it hits the shelves, it’s usually kept in big tanks that use a lot of oxygen, and it can sit there for up to a year before being bottled. The downside of this process is that it often strips away a lot of the natural flavor, so companies have to add a “flavor package” to make it taste better. So, even if you think you’re getting the best juice at the store, it’s still not as fresh as it could be.
