Sugar Shock in Beverages: Is Fruit Juice Really and Better than Soda?

We all heard it as a kid: Drink your juice! Apple, orange, grape, or some form of a fruit cocktail, children flock to juice beverages. It is a billion dollar industry, and they advertise to parents that their products are better than soda. However, are they really? Well, not really. In a recent study published in the “Nutrition” journal, the sugars in fruit juices are only slightly behind the sugars in sodas. For instance, Dr. Pepper has 61.4 grams per liter of sugary fructose, versus 55.1 grams per liter for Ocean Spray 100% Cranberry Juice. The fructose (or simply, sugar) level is lower in the majority of juices tested, however one ranks third in overall fructose, and that is Minute Maid 100% Apple Juice. Yes, apple juice. Apple juice does not seem very sweet, yet when you combine the fruit’s natural sugars with the processed sugars the manufacturer adds, it adds up to a whopping 65.8 grams per liter. The only two products in the test that were higher were Mug Root Beer with 66.9 and Mountain Dew with 72.3. Not all sugars are alike. There was much controversy last year over “high fructose corn syrup” and the damage it does. A responding commercial simply stated, “Sugar is sugar”. It is not true. Fructose, regardless of the form, does not act like the sugar that we humans need to function. It is not the same sugars that help regulate our glucose levels. Instead, fructose is processed through the liver, which in return stores it as fat. This is the problem with ...
Source: Mental Nurse - Category: Nurses Authors: Tags: Health Source Type: blogs