Fruit juice: a nutritious way to get extremely fat
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Drinking fruit juice is a nutritious way to get extremely fat. But juice marketers have us convinced that sugar that was once part of fruit is much healthier than sugar that was once part of sugar cane. We’re not entirely convinced. We still drink three litres of soft drink for every litre of juice. But that’s still 700ml of juice a week and growing at about 1.5 litres a year. We love juice because it seems to defy mum’s first law of food: if it tastes good it can’t be good for you. And that’s because even though it’s yummy, it is stuffed with loads of vitamin C. Even the thickest nutritionist knows we all need that vitamin C, right? Most plants and animals can produce all the vitamin C they need. Unfortunately humans and other apes descended from tree-swingers never bothered to develop the necessary enzyme. This is probably because our prehistoric diet had plenty of fresh fruit and veg. If you run low on vitamin C, you will eventually die of scurvy. And if we are to believe the juice purveyors, we are all on the verge of expiring from lack of vitamin C. But do you know anyone that has died of scurvy? Me neither. That’s because it’s extraordinarily difficult to deplete your stores of vitamin C enough to achieve it. Pretty much the only way you’ll do it will be to lock yourself up on a sailing ship for six months. Even then you’d be pushing it. Captain Cook didn’t lose anyone to scurvy on his way over here and all he fed his men was pickled cabbage and salted meat. There were no stops at the mid-Pacific juice bar for that lot. According to the World Health Organisation, you would need to be totally deprived of vitamin C for two months before you showed the first signs of scurvy. And even then all you would need to fix the problem would the amount of vitamin C found in half a small bag of hot chips. The other major nutritional claims for fruit juices are that they are good sources of folate and potassium. And while both are important, anyone who eats bread, nuts, meat, fresh fruit or vegetables (well just about anything really) will be getting more than any fruit juice would ever deliver. A glass of apple juice is no better for you than a glass of Coke. The average soft drink is 10% sugar and so is the average juice. And while the nutritional content claims are (vaguely) true, they are about as relevant as slapping “Asbestos Free” on the front of a bottle of Coke (no, this is not a suggestion). Big Sugar is green with envy at people queuing round the block to buy sugar water from juice bars. Coca-Cola tried to get in on the act and buy Berri, our biggest juice purveyor by a country mile. But the ACCC decided that wouldn’t be good for competition (it is, however, OK for a Japanese Brewer to own it). And earlier this year, Coke got knocked back again when it tried to buy half the Chinese fruit juice market. I don’t know why they’re bothering. All they need to do is source their sugar molecules from fruit juice concentrate rather than cane, chuck in some multivitamins and, voila, healthy sugar water — oh wait — they’ve already thought of that: Glaceau Vitamin Water. None of this is secret, so why does the government endorse juice as an alternative to fresh fruit? Why does the Heart Foundation hand out ticks to fruit juice makers? And why is juice promoted as a “green food” in school canteens? In July, I asked the Queensland deputy Premier and Minister for Health, Paul Lucas, why juice was endorsed as health food in schools. A flunkey immediately responded (at the end of September) letting me know that the minister’s reply was awaiting signature and so, of course, I am still waiting. Maybe he forgot how to sign his name? It’s time to knock the health halo off the head of the juice makers and place them firmly in the sugar-water category they have so successfully evaded. It’s time for governments to stop aiding and abetting the deception and it’s time kids were fed water at school instead of sugar-water dressed up as health food. |
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8 Comments
Does anyone know if there’s similar issues with vegetable juice (eg V8)……. i tend to drink this as a “healthy” alternative to fruit juice and it doesnt seem to be packed with sugar?
Thank you David.
I know I shouldn’t, but this particular factoid will make my next glass of coke taste even sweeter.
“Cook didn’t lose anyone to scurvy on his way over here and all he fed his men was pickled cabbage and salted meat. There were no stops at the mid-Pacific juice bar for that lot.” - My recollection of dates is not the best, but wasn’t it about this time, or somewhat earlier, that mariners discovered that lime juice warded off scurvy, and always tried to have a supply on board during long voyages?
Arnold Mousetrouser:
Captain Cook made his sailors eat onions, which worked well against scruvy. AM
“scruvy” in the previous message was a little-known variant of scurvy. Onions worked well for that, as well as scurvy. MB
david
you should stick to what you know about instead of displaying abysmal ignorance re nutritional health (and related issues of causes of disease and nutritional treatment).
however, it is somewhat suprising, given your particular agenda and interest, that you should be so uninformed on these subjects, and instead, apparently unknowningly, parrot some of the same false arguments of big pharma and their co-conspiritors, the food conglomerates, and the sickness industry. one would have expected better given your views & knowledge on sugar and the sugar purveyors.
indeed, as you state, (virtually) no-one dies of scurvy these days (an agrument we ourselves use in a much more logical context). yet strangely, the Aust RDI/RDAs originially designed for preventation of such chronic deficiency diseases, have not changed in scope or purpose, ie they are STILL have the objective of preventing scurvy, berri berri, rickets, and similar.
yet what are we dying of? well, as we unfortunately know all too well from personal experience. cancer, heart disease, alziemiers (and by the way, prescription drugs is right up there. yes, sir, the drugs prescribed to us by doctors are doing a far better job of killing more of us than most diseases. )
(and, fyi, cancer cure rates have not improved. all they are doing is discovering it earlier and for their stats if someone is still living 5 years after discovery that is counted as a ‘cure’. )
and the major three causes of all this rampant disease are - one, depleted soil (plus issues such as food transport, storage, and processing) leads to very vitamin deleted food, two, environmental issues, ie pollutants & poisons in our general and immediate household environment, three, life style choices, incl choice of food (and drinks), stress, lack of excercise.
virtually all of which can be PREVENTED by sufficient daily nutrition helped by a healthy lifestyle and food. but, plainly and self -evidently, NOT at RDI/RDA levels.
even the conservative US FDA now states that 67%-ish of all disease is diet related! i would put the real figure is somwhat higher at around 85-90%.
so, david, sugar, and how it is used and advertised & promoted (and lied about) is just a small part of the bigger picture of the food & drug conglomerates war on health
think of this simple model. bad food makes people sick (and addicted). sick people use doctors. doctors prescribe drugs (to treat, not cure). doctors and drug companies don’t want healthy people. healthy people don’t need doctors and don’t need drugs.
the evidence of drug & food companies complete amorality is vast yet almost unknown to the great majority so successful are they are at disinformation and much worse.
(disclaimer. some of figures might be slightly out as it has been a while since i was actively presenting detailed material on nutritional health & treatment.)
Surely if it comes in a packet, tin or plastic it is suspect? The greengrocer in any High St has all that is required to stay healthy. Here endeth the rant.
David - I’m really starting to get the sense that you’ve got a problem with sugar! While I have enjoyed your sweet rants, I must admit that your message is starting to get a bit fatiguing from over-exposure in Crikey.
I’m surprised people don’t realise already that fruit juice is pretty much just liquid sugar. Particularly apple juice - I mean, come on!