Throw out the juicer and dust off your blender!
I always instinctively knew that something wasn’t right about juicing. I mean, why deconstruct a fruit or vegetable when it is already perfect in its entirety? What exactly makes you think that the juice that comes out the front is what is good for you and the pulp that comes out the back is trash smh?! Who in the f was the genius who thought that was a good idea? Sounds to me like the idea of a “health guru” who really was more interested in coming up with the new hip thing to rake in loads of cash instead of coming with the truth. And the truth is, the juice without the pulp and fiber is poisonous to your body because what nature serves is already perfect.
Now what I write just comes from my own trust in my common sense. And my common sense tells me that eating 8 oranges is not a good idea and therefor a glass of orange juice can’t be good neither. But don’t take my word for it. Here is a summary of a study done on fruit juice and the effects on you.
How to shorten your life in a sweet way
This prospective study examined the associations between 100% fruit juice consumption, total fruit juice consumption (including sugar-sweetened fruit juices), and mortality risk in a nationally representative sample of 40,074 US adults. The key findings were:
- Both 100% fruit juice and total fruit juice consumption were associated with a higher risk of overall mortality.
- Both types of fruit juice consumption were also associated with higher mortality risk specifically from heart diseases/cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
- Substituting whole fruits with 100% fruit juice or total fruit juice was associated with increased mortality risk.
The study adds novel evidence to the ongoing debate about the potential long-term health effects of 100% fruit juice and whether it should be considered an acceptable alternative to whole fruits.
Previous studies on fruit juice and mortality risk have been limited and inconsistent. Some found inverse associations, some found null associations, and some like this study found positive associations of higher juice intake with mortality. Discrepancies may relate to differences in study populations, juice quantification methods, adjustment for dietary quality, and inclusion of vegetable juices.
For CVD mortality specifically, most prior studies also showed null associations with fruit juice, though some meta-analyses suggest a J-shaped relationship, with moderate doses being potentially protective but higher doses increasing risk. This study did not find evidence of a non-linear relationship.
The conflicting evidence is reflected in disagreements among dietary guidelines regarding recommendations for 100% fruit juice. Some allow it to partly count toward daily fruit intake, while others classify it similarly to sugar-sweetened beverages and recommend minimizing intake.
This study’s substitution analysis, showing increased mortality when replacing whole fruits with juices, supports limiting fruit juice and not considering it equivalent to whole fruits.
Potential biological mechanisms that could explain the elevated mortality risks include:
- High sugar/fructose content similar to sugar-sweetened beverages, promoting weight gain, dyslipidemia, visceral adiposity
- High glycemic load promoting inflammation
- Lack of fiber compared to whole fruits
- Potential exposure to pesticides/additives in commercial juices
Despite adjusting for BMI, energy intake, and stratifying by BMI status, the associations persisted, suggesting the fructose itself rather than just excess calories may be detrimental.
The study had several strengths, including a large nationally representative sample, prospective design, and adjusting for many confounders. Limitations include:
- Potential misclassification of juice types based on 24-hour recalls
- Inability to account for dietary changes during follow-up
- Residual confounding from unmeasured factors like genetics/metabolism
- Uncertain generalizability to non-US populations
In summary, this study found that higher consumption of both 100% fruit juice and total fruit juice was associated with elevated risks of overall mortality and mortality from heart diseases. Substituting whole fruits with fruit juices was also linked to higher mortality.
The findings suggest caution is warranted in considering 100% fruit juice an acceptable alternative to whole fruits, although more research is still needed given the inconsistencies across previous studies. Biological mechanisms like the sugars, lack of fiber, and potential additives in juices may contribute to the observed risks.
Overall, the results support dietary guidelines recommending limiting fruit juice intake and favoring consumption of whole fruit sources over juices.
Enjoy your glass of juice!
