Eat the Fruit, or Drink the Juice?
If a fruit of veggie has a medicinal value, do you get the same benefit if you drink juice from it? Or does its healing powers decrease?
According to the abstract of a study published in a December issue of the International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition:
Are the protective benefits of [fruit and vegetables (F&V)] dependent upon constituents lacking in [pure fruit and vegetable (PFV)] juices (e.g. fibre)? Do PFV juices impact on disease risk when considered separately from F&V? Studies comparing the effects of fibre and antioxidants were reviewed, yielding the finding that the impact of F&V may relate more strongly to antioxidants, than to fibre. For the second question, high-quality published studies that considered PFV juices were reviewed. The impact of PFV juices on cancer risk was weakly positive, although a lack of human data and contradictory findings hampered conclusions. For CVD, there was convincing evidence from epidemiological and clinical studies that PFV juices reduced risk via a number of probable mechanisms. It was concluded that the view that PFV juices are nutritionally inferior to F&V, in relation to chronic disease risk reduction, is unjustified.
Most likely, it depends on the fruit, where it is most concentrated, and what health benefits are being referred to. In apples, for example, it is believed that apples themselves contain more antioxidants than the juice, and that processing such as clarifying reduces the antioxidant content even further.
At the end of the day, I think it still all boils down to consuming a healthy, well-balanced, well-varied diet. Besides, wouldn’t it be more enjoyable, and thus will likely increase your consumption if you have a wider choice of nutrient source?
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POSTED IN: Food Talk, Healthy Beverages, Healthy Eating, ~Fruit and Vegetables
1 opinion for Eat the Fruit, or Drink the Juice?
david getlin
Nov 12, 2007 at 1:23 pm
when i was a kid, they said about vegetables……..boil them, then throw away the vegetables and drink the juice…….i’ve always done this plus put all the juice in one container and drink that………
today i will do both, eat the fruit and drink the juice…..i never save the fluids for the fridge to be used later…but drink it at the table rather than water…….
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