With the improvement of living standards, people pay more and more attention to healthy diet. Freshly squeezed fruit juice is favored by more and more people because of its rich nutrition and easy digestion and absorption. However, many people have doubts about the health value of freshly squeezed juice. So, is it really healthy to drink freshly squeezed juice? This article will answer this question for you.
First, let’s take a look at the production process of freshly squeezed fruit juice. Fresh juice is made by using a juicer to extract the juice from the fruit. It is sweet and delicious, and is rich in various vitamins and minerals. Unlike pre processed fruit juices in supermarkets, freshly squeezed fruit juices are a natural drink that does not add sugar, pigments, or preservatives.
Secondly, what are the health benefits of drinking fresh juice? In a prospective clinical study conducted in 2010, 21 patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease drank apple juice rich in biological flavonoids every day. After a 1-month trial period, although the symptoms of the subjects did not significantly improve, according to the caregivers who took care of the patients, 27% of the patients’ behaviors improved. The conclusion of the study is that supplementing apple juice can delay the emotional deterioration of Alzheimer’s patients. The American Cancer Association suggested on its official website that cancer rehabilitation patients can also drink fruit juice and vegetable juice, especially those with difficulty in chewing, but the Association also reminded everyone to pay attention to the sugar content in fruit juice and try to buy 100% fruit juice. Drinking juice is also beneficial for people recovering from cancer, especially those with difficulty chewing.
First of all, fresh juice is rich in vitamins and minerals, which can meet the nutritional needs of our body. For example, orange juice is rich in vitamin C, which can help strengthen immunity and prevent colds; The pectin contained in apple juice can lower cholesterol and help digestion. In addition, freshly squeezed fruit juice can remove toxins from the body, helping to detoxify and beautify the skin; It can also improve the intestinal environment, enhance digestion and absorption functions, and prevent gastrointestinal problems such as constipation.
Although drinking fresh juice has many benefits, it can also have some side effects if consumed excessively. For example, some fruits contain high fructose, which can easily lead to excessive blood sugar consumption; Some fruit juices contain high acidity, and if consumed too much, it may stimulate the gastric mucosa, causing stomach pain, indigestion, and other problems; In addition, drinking too much sugary drinks is also easy to lead to obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
In a controlled clinical study conducted in the UK in 2016, 36 obese and hypercholesterolemic subjects drank 250ml of fresh orange juice every day after grouping. After 12 weeks, the triglycerides of the subjects who drank the juice significantly decreased, and their weight and insulin sensitivity did not change. 250 mg of orange juice contains about 25 grams of sugar, accounting for only 5% of the daily energy required by each person. How about increasing the daily amount? In a 2020 study, 25 subjects drank 750ml of orange juice every day, three times more than the amount in the previous study, meaning that orange juice accounted for 15% of their daily energy requirements. After 4 weeks, the weight did not change, high-density cholesterol increased, but triglyceride increased by 30%! So it is not bad to drink fresh juice in moderation, but more may increase triglycerides.
Therefore, in order to avoid these side effects, we need to pay attention to the following points:Control the amount of drinking. You can drink 300ml-500ml fresh fruit juice every day without too much.Choose the fruit that suits you. Different fruits contain different nutrients. We need to choose the fruit that suits us according to our needs.Diversified options. Don’t drink the juice of only one kind of fruit. You can squeeze the juice of multiple kinds of fruit to increase the richness of nutrients.
In a double-blind cross control group experiment in 2004, 59 healthy middle-aged people drank vegetable and fruit juice for seven consecutive weeks, and then the intervention group and the control group exchanged tests for another seven weeks. The results showed that drinking vegetable and fruit juice increased the antioxidant substances such as vitamin A, C, E, selenium and folic acid in the blood of these middle-aged people. All indicators showed that the incidence rate of chronic diseases in the body of people who drank vegetable and fruit juice for seven weeks decreased to a safe level. The researchers concluded that although the subjects have paid great attention to health on weekdays, the general diet cannot provide sufficient micronutrients, so the supplement of vegetables and fruit juices can fill this gap. Similar studies on fruit and vegetable juice have also targeted cardiovascular diseases and blood lipids. For example, in another double-blind, crossover, controlled trial, 32 subjects drank fruit and vegetable juice for 6 weeks compared to the other 6 weeks without fruit and vegetable juice. The results showed that after drinking fruit and vegetable juice for 6 weeks, as in the previous study, the levels of micronutrients (vitamins A, C, E, and folic acid) in the blood increased, while the inflammatory index homocysteine decreased, The researchers concluded that people who supplement fruits and vegetables reduce their cardiovascular risk by reducing homocysteine.
In short, drinking fresh fruit juice is beneficial to health, but it also needs moderate control. In our daily diet, we should pay attention to a diversified diet, rationally mix fruits, avoid excessive consumption of sugary beverages, and achieve the goal of “eating more fruits and drinking less juice” in order to better enjoy the nutrition and delicious taste of fruits. In addition, based on the above research, from an evidence-based diet perspective, freshly squeezed fruit juice is not necessarily harmful to health, depending on how much it is consumed, with whom it is consumed, what fruit juice people with health problems are drinking, and when it is consumed. Drinking the right fruit juice in the right context can help improve health.
