If you ask anyone about the benefits of fruit juice, you will certainly receive many interesting answers. From refreshing drinks, weight loss, skin and hair beautification, to detoxification, vitamin provision, disease prevention, immune system enhancement, and slowing down aging…
Of course, we cannot deny these benefits from fruit juice. However, this is not the best way to consume fruit in terms of both nutritional value and health benefits, especially compared to eating whole fruits, for four reasons:
1. Loss of Fiber
Firstly, the process of juicing fruit removes almost all of the fiber. Dr. Emma Elvin, a senior clinical consultant at Diabetes UK, states that this is a waste.
The fiber in fruit not only provides additional energy and aids digestion but also creates a feeling of fullness for longer, reduces sugar absorption, and is very beneficial for those on a diet. However, in reality, people wanting to lose weight often believe that drinking juice is better than eating fresh fruit, which is a misconception.
Juicing fruit removes almost all of the fiber.
2. Reduced Nutritional Value
Fruit juice is extracted from whole fruits. When juicing, we remove the skin and pulp, which often contain a lot of vitamins and other nutrients. Not to mention that chopping and juicing increase the surface area, accelerating the oxidation of many nutrients.
According to Dr. Jinal Patel, a senior nutritionist at Apollo Spectra Hospital in Mumbai, India, vitamin C and antioxidants are valuable nutrients that are most easily lost when processing fruit into juice. For example, oranges contain flavonoids, but most of them are found in the pulp, not the juice.
3. Increased Sugar Intake and Health Risks
When it comes to the risk of consuming too much sugar from drinking fruit juice, many people think the solution is to avoid adding sugar to the juice. However, you need to understand that even without added sugar, drinking fruit juice instead of eating fresh fruit leads to higher sugar consumption. This is not only unhealthy and causes weight gain but can also lead to many diseases.
In fact, fruit juice contains much more sugar than we might think. As early as 2014, scientists demonstrated this in a scientific report published in the prestigious journal “Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology”. It pointed out that pure fruit juice contains a lot of sugar; for example, 100% pure apple juice has sugar levels nearly equivalent to that of sugary soft drinks.
Because the juicing process removes all fiber and reduces nutrients and vitamins, the drink you receive is mostly sugar aside from water. Moreover, when making juice, you will need to use more fruit than if you were eating it fresh, which further increases the sugar content.
Many scientific studies have shown that the type of sugar found in fruit juice is harmful to health if consumed in excess. There are two common types of sugar: glucose and fructose. Dr. Emma Elvin explains that unlike whole fruit, the fructose in fruit juice is a type of “free sugar”. It is similar to honey or added sugars found in processed foods.
This type of sugar is absorbed more easily when juicing fruit into juice. This is because the body absorbs liquids more easily, quickly, and in larger quantities compared to solids. She noted that the World Health Organization recommends that adults should not consume more than 30g of sugar per day, equivalent to no more than 150ml of fruit juice daily.
Eating fresh fruit provides both fiber and sugar at the same time.
Dr. Zhao Hanying, Director of the Chenguang Nutrition and Health Consulting Center in China, emphasized that this type of sugar is very harmful to the liver and kidneys. Furthermore, it increases the risk of metabolic disorders such as dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and various cancers due to increased inflammation, particularly liver, pancreatic, breast, kidney, and stomach cancers.
She added that eating fresh fruit helps us to consume both fiber and sugar at the same time. This hinders the absorption of sugar in the body. But when juicing, only sugar remains, which speeds up the absorption process. Moreover, when juicing, we cannot accurately measure the amount of fruit consumed. Some people also tend to add sugar to improve taste and palatability when making smoothies or juices, which is even worse for health.
4. Eating Whole Fruits is Better for Oral Health than Juice
Another benefit we miss out on when drinking fruit juice instead of eating fresh fruit is that chewing food slowly and correctly helps enhance oral health, according to Dr. Jinal Patel. This includes cleaning, improving jaw muscles, aligning bite, and promoting healthier gums and teeth.
Additionally, the chewing process can stimulate the secretion of digestive enzymes in saliva, aiding better digestion. Chewing fruit also helps us control the amount of fruit and sugar we consume, slowing down the sugar absorption rate.
However, he reminds that even with fresh fruit consumed directly, one should not eat too much. It is recommended that each adult should eat about 400g of fruit per day. The type of fruit consumed daily should not be overly sweet, and it is advisable to eat fruit when it is ripe rather than overripe or spoiled as it may not be good for health.
