Fruit juice is often perceived as healthy.
That’s understandable, given that it is natural and has the word “fruit” in it.
However… what many people fail to realize is that fruit juice is also loaded with sugar.
In fact, fruit juice contains just as much sugar and calories as a sugary soft drink… and sometimes even more (1).
The small amounts of vitamins and antioxidants in the juice do not make up for the large amount of sugar.
Fruit Juice Isn’t Always What it Seems
Unfortunately, food and beverage manufacturers aren’t always honest about what is in their products.
The fruit juice you find at the supermarket may not be what you think it is… even if it’s labelled as “100% pure” and “not from concentrate.”
After being squeezed from the fruit, the juice is usually stored in massive oxygen-depleted holding tanks for up to a year before it is packaged.
The main problem with this method is that it tends to remove most of the flavor, so the manufacturers need to add so-called “flavor packs” to the juice, to bring back the flavor that was lost during processing.
So even if you’re buying the highest quality juices at the supermarket, they are still far from their original state.
Some of the lowest quality ones don’t even resemble fresh-squeezed fruit juice at all… they are basically just fruit-flavored sugar water.
Fruit Juice Contains Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants, but it Lacks Fiber and is Loaded With Sugar
Fruit juice is missing a lot of the stuff that makes whole fruit healthy.
Orange juice, for example, does contain Vitamin C and is a decent source of folate, potassium and Vitamin B1 (2).
It also contains antioxidants, some of which can increase the antioxidant value of the blood (3, 4).
But calorie for calorie (or sugar gram for sugar gram), it is nutritionally poor compared to whole oranges and other plant foods like vegetables (5).
