“Tons of sugar and limited nutrients” – why juice is not healthy
Obesity affects 40 percent of adults and 19 percent of children in the United States and accounts for more than $168 billion in health care spending each year. Sugary beverages are thought to be one of the major drivers of the obesity epidemic. These drinks (think soda and sports drinks) are the largest single source of added sugars for Americans and contribute, on average, 145 added calories a day to our diets. For these reasons, reducing sugary beverage consumption has been a significant focus of public health intervention. Most efforts have focused on sodas.
More and more health organizations have realized that sugar and soda are major culprits in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. But for some reason fruit juice has escaped blame (maybe the marketing around fruit being so healthy?), in spite of its great sugar content and lack of nutrients.
It’s time to stop viewing fruit juice as healthy. As the author of this NYT article writes: “We doubt you’d take a multivitamin if it contained 10 teaspoons of sugar.”
See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/opinion/sunday/juice-is-not-healthy-sugar.html
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Opinion | Seriously, Juice Is Not Healthy One 12-ounce glass of orange juice contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, roughly what’s in a can of Coke. |