at Silvia Turin
Research confirms the association between weight gain and consumption of 100% fruit juices, especially for children under 8 years of age. They are not an addition to a snack or a substitute for water. The whole fruit is always better
Can drinking fruit juices be useful in combating overweight? And is it good for the health of adults and children?
The limits of sugar
The questions have no simple answer. It is certainly not good to drink drinks and juices with added sugar so as not to increase your intake of this element too much the guidelines of the World Health Organization they recommend that it does not exceed 10% of a person’s total caloric intake per day (in a 2000 kcal diet it would be 50 grams).
What about 100% juices made only from fruit, but which naturally contain fruit sugars?
A recent study conducted by a Canadian and American team examined previous scientific works on the topic to understand how much the intake of fruit juices (only 100%) affected the final weight calculation of children and adults.
The results
The results, just published in JAMA Pediatrics, showed an association between an increase in fruit juice portions and an increase in body weight, calculated in BMI (Body Mass Index). Especially for the little ones, increasing the dose of fruit juice perhaps with the intention of making children eat the correct daily portion of fruit did not seem to be a good idea.
I study
The search included 42 scientific articles: 17 prospective cohort studies on children (for a total of 45,851 children), 25 studies on adults (268,095 adults). The average age of the children was 8 years with an average duration of studies of 4 years. The average age of adults was 48 years with a duration of 3 years and, for randomized clinical trials (experimental studies in which participants are randomly assigned to two groups, the experimental group receiving treatment and the control group /comparison) average age of 42 years and duration of 6 weeks.
Participants were provided 100% fruit juice in the form of pomegranate, berry, black cherry, apple, citrus, or grape. The comparison group had a standard diet of only water or sugar-sweetened drinks with zero-calorie sweeteners.
The standard portion considered for juices was 237 ml, a full glass. In Italy, cardboard boxes are usually 200 ml (in the table below is the food composition of the most common fruit juices).
For adults, portions are what matters most
The results demonstrated a positive association between the consumption of 100% fruit juices and the change (slight, of 0.03) in BMI, as written, especially for children under 8 years of age.
For adults it depended on the caloric intake of the juices (therefore on how many portions were consumed). In particular, less than 1 serving of juice per day was associated with a significant reduction in body weight and more than 2 servings per day, however, implied a gain in body weight. This may be due to the greater health benefits conferred by the vitamins, antioxidants and polyphenols found in some 100% fruit juices at lower doses and the risks of harm at higher doses, due to excess sugar.
No significant difference was observed between the types of juice, but a tendency to support weight loss appeared for juices based on superfoods (pomegranate, goji berries, blueberry, black cherry and currant), while those based on apple, citrus fruits and grapes were more associated with weight gain.
US and Italian guidelines
Nearly 50 percent of American children and adolescents consume at least 1 serving of fruit juice per day, with younger children having the highest rates of consumption, the study authors noted. And in the US, juices are often offered to meet daily fruit recommendations, also because the dietary guidelines for Americans allow 100% fruit juices as a fruit portion and recommend limiting added sugars, without including those naturally present in juices.
The Italian guidelines suggest not to consider them a substitute for water and not to add them as a drink to the snack, as children often do, because this leads to an increase in the daily sugar and calorie content. And they underline how they cannot be considered, at least systematically or to a prevalent extent, a substitute for fruit and vegetables.
What to do
The green light is therefore given to the consumption of 100% fruit juices because they also contain a significant quantity of minerals and vitamins (including potassium, folic acid and vitamin C) and bioactive compounds compared to other sugary drinks, but with great attention to the quantities. As healthy as a juice composed of 100% fruit is, it is always preferable to choose the whole fruit, if possible even with the peel, because the fibers balance the absorption of sugar in the liver, make you fuller for longer and contain fewer calories for the same of weight. Finally, chewing is an exercise that affects the sense of hunger, so I notice that liquid calories have a greater influence on weight gain than solid calories, even due to the quantities that can easily be overcome when drinking.
Corriere della Sera also on Whatsapp. sufficient click here to subscribe to the channel and always be updated.
January 17, 2024 (changed January 17, 2024 | 07:18)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED