Last Updated on 2023-05-06 , 4:10 pm
Walk past any malls and there is a high chance you’ll be able to see a shop selling fruit juice. Many of us have been drinking fruit juice since we’re pretty young.
Nothing wrong about it, but did you know that fruit juice might not be the health food that you were expecting?
Is Fruit Juice a Health food?
According to the Straits Times, in a survey of parents of young children, one in three believed that juice is as healthy as fruit. This is not surprising, given that we are often inundated with the message that juice is healthy.
Here’s the truth – even if it is freshly pressed, 100 per cent juice is still a little more than sugar water. shocking, eh?
Sure, it is reasonable to think that juice is healthy since it origins from fruit. However, fruit juice leaves behind some of the healthiest parts of the fruit behind. This includes the skin on apples, the seeds in raspberries and the membranes holding orange segments together.
They are where most of the fibre, antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals are hiding. Yet fruit juice has none of the above.
Fibre is good for our gut. It fills us up and slows the absorption of the sugars we eat, resulting in smaller spikes in insulin. When our bodies can no longer keep up with our need for insulin, this is where Type 2 diabetes can easily develop.
When calories are drank instead of being eaten, our brain does not get the same signal that we are full as compared to from a solid food. And the most ironic thing? We actually consume far more calories in a fruit juice than the fruit itself.
For example, an orange may contain 45 calories, but a glass of orange juice contains 110 calories. You might feel full after drinking a glass of orange juice, but that sensation goes away quickly.
Diabetes in Singapore
Diabetes is a very prominent issue in Singapore. Nearly 1 in 3 people in Singapore are at risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime, which may not seem a lot but this could lead to a million people with diabetes in 2050.
In a report done in 2019 in Singapore, 26% of diabetes patients developed diabetes due to their diet and 50% of the patients developed diabetes due to obesity.
Hence, it is imperative that we try to exercise regularly and watch our intake, which includes knowing which foods are secretly unhealthy.
Change your perception
What needs to be changed? Our perception of juice. Firstly, we cannot get all our nutrients just by drinking fruit juice everyday.
In fact, according to a diabetes specialist, children who drink juice regularly are shorter and heavier than those who rarely drink juice. Children who drink juice probably do not have the necessary nutrients found in milk for healthy growth.
We have to recognise that juice is a treat, and not a daily necessity that belongs in our breakfast menu or a gym workout.
Children need to consume more milk instead of juice, for milk is a great source of the protein. It has calcium, vitamin D and magnesium that growing children need.
There is nothing wrong with drinking fruit juice. But it shouldn’t be replacing your healthy consumption of fruits and milk. After all, nothing beats the raw fruit itself!
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