JUNE 19- You see them everywhere, in advertisements, neighbourhood grocery shops and malls.
Fruit juices are being heralded as a panacea for everything- from losing weight to curing deadly diseases. Television commercials often position packaged fruit juices as a healthy replacement for fresh fruits.
The endorsement of a mango drink by Katrina Kaif claims that it can beat the juicy and luscious taste of a real mango. Besides replacing fresh fruits, marketers would have you believe that fruit drinks can help you detox or even prevent Alzheimer’s.
In addition, some exotic concoctions such as those made of carrot, orange and wheatgrass are also available for the health conscious.
The Indian non-carbonated drink market- which includes fruit drinks, nectars and juices- is growing fast with more health awareness on obesity and weight related issues and greater affordability.
Health experts, however, warn that one shouldn’t fall for tall claims made by juice manufacturers as many of these are not backed by scientific evidence.
Without fibre, fruits and vegetables don’t hold much of their value and so extracted juices are no powerhouses of nutrition.
The key, they say, is to make juice a supplement rather than a substitute in your daily diet. So don’t just gulp your calories, instead go about eating them.
Go for the real
Contrary to popular opinion, juices are in fact meant only for kids, elderly and those who have problems chewing fruits.
“It’s fine to go for packaged fruit drinks when you are on the go and travelling in places where you don’t have access to clean fruit.
But traditionally, the consumption of juices used to be recommended only for certain therapeutic conditions like for those suffering from liver diseases, digestive issues, and growing up children.
For the rest, fruits were the norm,” says Neelanjana Singh, consultant nutritionist, PSRI Hospital.
Juices though could be a convenient choice at times. In that case, the best option to control the calories and have an increased variety of fruits is to blend them at home.
You could go for fresh homemade juices and drinks like the traditional chach, lassi, sharbat, thandai, kanj or milk shake, nimbu paani, badam milk and coconut water.
“These have all the required nutrients. It’s a good idea to blend juice for kids as they are fussy. But don’t make them juice dependent and instead inculcate the habit of eating fruits during their growing up days,” advises Rekha Sharma, former chief dietician, AIIMS.
“Aim for at least two servings of fruits per day, a diet rich in lean protein and dairy, fruits, vegetables and ensure adequate water intake. Your diet should be sustainable.
Just going the juice way is a trend and trends don’t last,” says Sharma. Also, the next time you are at a grocery store, take a closer look at the health claims on the label, be well-armed with information and don’t get floored by health claims.
Juicing cleanses the body
Overzea lous health conscious people are now onto a fad – juice therapy. It is all about extracting juice from fresh fruits and uncooked vegetables and making them your main diet.
It is supposed to cleanse the body and boost your immunity.”People are juicing for various reasons but all claims of benefits are overrated.
Some of these short-term therapies are harmful for a normally healthy person. There is no scientific evidence that extracted juices are healthier than the fruits you eat,” says Shivangi Mehta, city based nutritionist. Consuming too much of certain juices can cause diarrhoea and unwanted weight gain.
“Living on juices can leave you with major nutrient deficiencies like lack of lean proteins, healthy fats and whole grains,” says Deepika Agarwal.
Extracts help lose weight
Actually, if you drink too much of packaged fruit juice, you can put on weight as most of them contain heavy doses of added sugars.
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity reported that when people were given either the solid or liquid version of certain foods like watermelon and watermelon juice, those who drank liquids consumed 20 per cent more calories than the other group.
It was found that juices can lead to weight gain as they are low in fibre and high in sugars. “Unlike whole fruits and veggies, which take time to be broken by the body, juices move through your system as quickly as water.
To avoid increasing your weight, limit your intake to no more than 200 calories per day. Juices also slow down the metabolism,” says Rekha Sharma.
They can replace fruits
Fruit juice is not a replacement for fruit because the juice is devoid of essential nutrients and fibre. “The edible skins of many fruits like apple, apricot, plum contain pigments which include carotenoids and flavonoids.
It’s well proven that these help protect us against many diseases. Juices are stripped of all such essentials especially the fatty acids,” says Deepika Agarwal, senior dietician, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Pulp is also an important source of fibre in most fruits. “The pulp in orange is the primary source of its flavonoids, while the orange coloured sections contain most of the vitamin C.
When pulp is removed during the processing of orange juice, flavonoids are lost,” says Agarwal. Similarly, when apple is juiced, most of the fibre is lost. Moreover, the juice ends up elevating the blood sugar levels more quickly than whole fruit.
Packaged drinks contain real fruits
While packaged drinks might claim to contain ‘real fruit’, they don’t in reality. A lot of us fall for the claims made by packaged food drink manufacturers.
“The health conscious new generation Indians are hooked to these and try to make up for their daily quota of fruits by gulping juice.
While home-made juices are still healthier, packaged fruit drinks aren’t necessarily healthy,” says Neelanjana Singh.
Available in whichever forms, whether its cocktail, punches or real fruit juices, they consist of excess sugar, artificial flavours and colours.
“Unless your beverage is cent per cent fruit juice, made without added sugar or high fructose corn syrup, it isn’t completely healthy,”she says.
Although most juice packs on the market would say, ‘pulp added’ on their labels, the pulp may not be entirely original.
INDIA TODAY
