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Fruit Drinks Aren't Much Better For You Than Soda: Study (vox.com)
An anonymous reader cites a study on Vox: One of the biggest public health wins of recent decades has been America's slow shift away from soda. But there's pretty good evidence that Americans are still getting hoodwinked by juices and other sugary beverages. Data from Euromonitor, which analyzed U.S. retail beverage sales over the past five years, shows that while the soda category is shrinking, juice sales have held steady, and sales of energy and sports drinks have been growing. An article in BMJ Open demonstrates the extent of the problem: The researchers looked at how much of the American diet is composed of ultra-processed foods and added sugars. They found that 58 percent of total energy intake -- more than half of the calories Americans consume! -- came from foods that are packed with lots of flavors, colors, and sweeteners. And almost 90 percent of the added sugars Americans consume came from heavily processed foods -- the two main sources being soft drinks (17 percent) closely followed by fruit drinks (14 percent). (In this case, 'fruit drinks' refers to processed juices with added sugars.)
Marketing and advertising only tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!!
jeez, wake up will ya.
Don't tell the whole foods crowd.
It's so easy to justify consuming almost anything, because there are thousands of web pages that say "that is good for you!" Coffee, chocolate, fruit juice, whatever. Some of these are, of course, created by the companies that sell these foods and drinks -- but I think most of it comes from the fact that everybody eats -- and while almost any other subject will only address a fraction of people, foods and drinks are obviously part of everybody's life. So, there's talk about food every day in the newspaper, on the news cable channels...and now on Slashdot.
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
How you get too much sugar is basically irrelevant.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Only the Food Industry could make fruit unhealthy.
Sugar is sugar is sugar. If you want fruit, eat an actual piece of fruit and get the benefits of the other raw and whole nutrients it contains. It's never a great idea to drink your calories.
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This should not be a surprise to anyone who reads the nutrition label of what they are eating and drinking.
Follow the money, as every farmer knows there is more money in processing his perfectly good produce than he'll ever see for it.
I have to watch out my sugar intake and investigated typical sugar content of several juices as I like them.
The result is there is nearly as much sugar in a good (freshly pressed) apple or orange juice than there is in the same measure of soda.
So I've moved to eating the whole fruit, it is just as or even more satisfying than drinking the juice because it fills you up and even better, you get all the vitamins, minerals and fiber that's part of the fruit.
But ultimately I drink more water, tap water as it's in this country much cleaner than the overpriced stuff from bottles.
Within two weeks my blood sugar level went from on the verge of dangerous 7+ to comfortable 4 - 4.5.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
I'm not sure I'm comfortable paying for studies that 'prove' well known scientific facts. Yes.. sugar does in fact have calories and amazingly those drinks have their calories and sugar content listed on them.. as if for some divine reason. Was there really any doubt or any push back to the fact that fruit drinks have calories and those calories affect you mostly in the same way as any food or drink? Decades ago on a planet much skinner than today, people drank fruit drinks responsibly - that means in small portions or watered down. They were also more active. It's sad that decades later we are treating common dieting sense as some kind of new science that needs to still be proven.
The difference between sugar water and super clarified apple juice is pretty marginal. That's why the 100% stuff is still sweetened, it's a scam more or less. A marketing gimmick.
Yeah, when you see a doom-and-gloom article like this one, and one of the phrases is "heavily processed" or the new catchphrase "ultra-processed," you can safely ignore it.
"Heavily processed" is such a wide definition that it's effectively meaningless. Anything that contains extra sugar (in any amount), white flour (or any other refined grains), anything that has "artificial" coloring (even if the color comes from natural sources), refined oils (like soybean oil, which was a "health food" twenty years ago), or even low-fat foods (whether or not they're naturally low in fats).
When you get right down to it, these sorts of articles are trying to get you worked up about processed foods - in other words, ANYTHING that comes in a package. "So buy our Cool New Healthy Food, at only three times the price!"
Of course, the people who are worked up about processed foods are just the spiritual descendants of the people who used to tell you to switch to processed food because the older, natural foods were supposed to be bad for you. I remember when the health nuts told us to switch from butter to margarine because butter was bad - and now we know that margarine is immensely worse for cardiovascular health.
Setting aside that whole juice vs. drink bit, which can only be used as a high level filter, processed foods have ingredient and nutrition labels. People should check them when they are buying a new product rather than depending upon manufacturer's claims.
Also learn how to check the products next to it. Those cheap alternatives are often better for you than the expensive brands.
Stop trying to be everyone's mom and mind your own business.
And don't try to feed us "we pay for health care so all your food is our business" (and we've appointed ourselves you new mom, and you will obey us or else). If you're paying for someone's health care, it's because you offered to pay. Rescind the offer if you don't like where the money is going.
Just go into any American Supermarket and look at the ingredients of the things that you put in your basket.
The dieticians will give a rule of thumb that says stay away from the center isles where all the processed and packaged foods are.
The outside - the walls - are usually where the refrigerated lean meats and fish, produce and dairy is. And just get whole grains: if it's brown it's good; white is bad.
The unfortunate thing is that the packaged food producers have got human tastes down to a science and know how to stimulate tastes that kept us alive when we were hunter gatherers but now make us obese.
And our modern lifestyle just isn't a healthy one either. Sometime someone made it a badge of honor to over work oneself until it has become expected that one has live to work instead of the more sane attitude of working to live. But that's a different topic all together.
IMO there's no need to qualify it with "aren't much better for you".
>"the two main sources being soft drinks (17 percent) closely followed by fruit drinks (14 percent). (In this case, 'fruit drinks' refers to processed juices with added sugars.)"
It really doesn't matter much if the juice is 100% natural or a dilution with added sugars. It is still sugar without the rest of the fruit solids (which contains fiber, pectin, and other components). Drinking a glass of fruit juice is not a natural way to consume fruit... it is rapidly taking in a huge quantity of unregulated simple calories.
Fruit juice is just mostly sugar water. If you want to be "healthy" and/or lose weight and/or prevent insulin spikes then drink water. Then, optionally eat a single serving of WHOLE fruit (like one apple or one peach or something) if you want fruit.
Slightly off-topic, but: even an home made freshly squeezed glass of fruit juice supposedly contains more sugar than is healthy for you. Think about it: on average, how much oranges would you need to squeeze for a single glass of juice ? Three or four oranges ? Might not seem like a lot, until you consider *eating* those same four oranges at once. The proclaimed result ? Eating a single orange is good for you, but taking in - the sugars of - four oranges is bad.
"Juicer" typically indicates that you make your own beverage from fresh fruits and veggies, which is not at all unhealthy (1)(2). "Fruit Juice" as TFA is discussing is processed fruit juice, generally chemically reduced to concentrate and added to sugar water (HFCS specifically). The primary difference between soda and 99% of the commercially produced "Fruit Juices" is the lack of carbonation in the latter. In many cases, there is more sugar added to juices than there is in soda.
1. Eating large quantities of certain vegetables and fruits will cause severe illness. Research, research, and research!
2. Juice bars have a variety of drinks, some of which contain sorbet and other sources and forms of sugar. Research is important here too!
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
the source is irrelevant.
Absolute statements are never true
Humans typically starving and suffering malnutrition most of the time for over a hundred thousand years, and before that our ancestor species back more than a billion years. Our appetite craves the sugar and fat that helped humans stave off death. Now with cheap, abundant, and tasty foods everywhere through technological advances we have to deal with whole populations being over fed. People actually complain food is too easy to consume like processed and fast foods. Many poor people eat better than kings just 1000 years ago.
I love it! There simply isn't a better time to be alive. Give me diabetes and obesity any day over dying at 12 from starvation. I, for one, am grateful to our new corpulent overlords.
when was the last time you saw someone drink 32 oz of OJ at once. But Coke? yes.
sugar in your OJ is not OJ either.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Isn't it even "almost 2/3rd"?
It's 2016! Who the hell didn't know this already?!?! WTF
What the FUCK is this doing on slashdot?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I've been hearing this shit since I was a little kid in the 70's. This country has way too many assholes making a living by spreading FUD. NEWS FLASH- IF YOU OVERCONSUME, YOU MAY DIE. Just pick something. It doesn't matter what it is. Water, aspirin, Boones Farm, eggs, republicans, democrats, salt........... Someone please lock these bastards up and throw away the key.
The title of the thing is:
> Fruit Drinks Aren't Much Better For You Than Soda: Study
That implies that they are comparing one serving of one to one serving of the other.
> And almost 90 percent of the added sugars Americans consume came from heavily processed foods --
> the two main sources being soft drinks (17 percent) closely followed by fruit drinks (14 percent).
That's irrelevant. The question is: How does one serving of fruit drink compare to one serving of soft drink?
so we shouldn't drink anything
What the fuck is it with Americans and adding sugar to fucking juice?!
I water down most of the juice I drink, because it's too damn sweet already.
My mother in law has a penchant for "fruit drinks" because they are "healthy".
"Look here: it says 'Made with 2% real juice!' That means its good for you!"
(also HFCS, water, two different preservatives, artificial color, artificial flavor)
and another beautiful gem "They wouldn't be allowed to sell it if it wasn't healthy!"
Check the labels. Sodas are mostly lemon and lime juice.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Soda and soft drinks aren't much worse for you than fruit drinks.
Vacuum steel bottles and water.
I have a one-liter hydroflask for the house and disc golf, and a 16-ounce Bubba with a barrel shape for the car (so as to fit the minuscule cupholder in my car)
Bottle water is a racket. Don't feed the plastic monster
As for soda.. completely kicked the habit after spending some time in a hospital. When I came back I found I couldn't stand the taste of any of them.. except for Boylan's Birch Beer. So I cut soda out cold turkey.
Fruit drink? Rarely. An Izze here, a smoothie there, but those are maybe one once a month.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
I can't drink that stuff, tastes like candy syrup! Pretty much the only thing I can stand to drink (apart from beer or coffee) is water or milk, or a slightly sweetened iced tea. I'll eat a fruit but I can't stand the candy drink.
Twinstiq, game news
Stop eating refined sugar, and switch to Gur and Jaggery.
Gur, Jaggery and Panela taste much better and are more healthful.
We make our own, and that's the only sugar we have used for many, many years.
I have posted this before here in slashdot for another topic, It's related enough to be here.
[Sugar - The bitter truth by Dr Robert H. Lustig, University of California Television (UCTV)] https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] [Warning: 90 minutes]
This is the best math I've seen about sugar, coca-cola, energy drinks and obesity.
captcha: continue
Not processed juices have high calorie content too. If you want to avoid sugars juices aren't the best, but as drinks they are much better than any soft drinks. Depending on the juice you get vitamins, minerals and even fibers. Of course I'm talking about Juice as Europe defines it, all natural not some sort of what we call "nectar", that is sugary water with the taste of whatever fruit it's supposed to be.
Another study that points out the obvious, but I guess it's good to get more cite-able research out there. Fruit drinks deceive people with what's known as a "health halo". Fruit sounds healthful, therefore things made from fruit or that contain fruit juice must also be healthful. Fruits are indeed good for you because they contain good nutrients and most contain a lot of fiber (the latter of which helps delay the absorption of fructose that would otherwise cause a blood sugar spike). Processed fruit juices, on the other hand, are obtained by several different but substantially similar methods: The peel or rind is removed (which strips away much of the fiber), then the fruit is pulped or crushed, then all of that material is mechanically sifted out and discarded (which removes the rest of the fiber and a large amount of the nutrients). What's left is just juice, primarily sugar water. Many manufacturers will take this a step further, by boiling or evaporating away the water. What remains is mostly just fruit sugar (fructose), with scarcely even a hint of the original fruit's flavor. They then add this sugar to beverages, and then they can truthfully say the product "contains real fruit juice!"
I put exactly one drop of grapefruit oil in each glass of my home made IPA. I count that as juice.
... yet labeled as juice is the normal. Many times I picked up bottles that call itself juice and then there are no vitamins listed under the nutritional info. How Minute Maid, for instance, manages to do that while using real fruit as an ingredient is beyond me.
http://www.sgf.org/fileadmin/u... As so often in medicine, "evidence" is brought forward for and against anything.
Back in college, I tried to lose my soda habit for something healthier. Frozen concentrates were the best option, saving me from lugging bulky jugs of colored water home in my backpack. I tried "Mr. Pure Papaya Juice". Tasted like ass and made my tongue sting.
Ingredients: no actual papaya at all, just grape and apple from concentrate and tons of HFCS.
"Mr Pure", folks.
After moving to the Midwest I couldn't find soda. I'd go to my local grocery store or Wal-Mart and ask for "soda" and people would look at me confusedly and say they don't carry it. So, I had to switch to 'pop.'
This thread is too much helpful for me .. I realy like to drink soda .. thanks to add this ...
http://videoonline.pk/watch.ph...
4 Health Foods That Aren't Healthy
They are frequently half or less sugar in a sport drink of the same volume. Of course if you are skipping a 12 ounce soda in preference for a 22 ounces "power" drink, you're probably not doing yourself any favors.
I've mostly switched to black coffee.
Drink hot water and go for one hour early morning walk;
Casteism
To be clear, 100 percent juice does not contain added sugar and can be a part of a balanced diet. Moreover, these products provide more than simple refreshment. Many deliver important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. We would also add that these products – and other American beverages – are clearly labeled so that consumers can make informed choices. In sum, this study is inaccurate and misleading.