Asking for advice considering the health of moderate amounts of fruit vs. fruit juice in a diet. Opinions about this seem to be all over the map and I can’t figure out what’s scientifically valid and what’s not. The question is regarding the relative health effects of 1 -2 servings a day - real, nutritional label size servings - of the following three items:
a. 100% juice from various fruits other than apple
b. The same juice with fiber supplements added
c. Raw, unprocessed fruit
I’ve heard four distinct opinions on these:
Fruit and fruit juice are both healthy thanks to micronutrient content.
Fruit is healthy; juice is unhealthy due to a lack of fiber, however if you drink it with fiber supplements, it becomes healthy again.
Fruit is healthy; juice is unhealthy, even with supplements because the fiber has to be “attached to the sugar.”
Fruit and juice are both unhealthy due to sugar content.
Does anyone know the truth? What is the relative health of juice, juice + fiber, and raw fruit, and would any of them be considered beneficial to include in your diet in moderate amounts?
If it matters, assume the specific fruit is varied day to day, among the most common sweet fruits and juices, except the juice of pomacious fruits is excluded. Citrus, melons, berries, and nectarines. No apple or pear juice.
Both are healthy in moderation. The juice, however, I would say to be more mindful of limiting intake as it is concentrated sugar with the fiber removed. You would not sit down and eat 6 oranges, but could easily drink the juice of 6 oranges down very fast. Food in its whole form helps us feel fuller and is packed with natural fiber that slows down the absorption of sugar and gives our body time to respond to it.
My Nutirionist says I can’t eT too much fruit and encourage it. When I see her again I will ask about juice.
As the the fruit the body processes this sugar differently. So I am encouraged to eat fruit or blend it in a smoothy with protein powder.
Something that rarely get’s discussed is how fiber structure is so important for it to serve its purpose correctly. If you look at a fruit, it is basically a mesh of fiber full of water and all the fructose and nutrients that come along with it. The fact that it is a mesh means it is fully surrounding all the contents of the fruit, this is important as the fruit goes through your intestinal tract, as fiber will prevent that fructose from being absorbed by your body and it ends up feeding your gut.
In contrast, If you juice a fruit, you are 100% destroying its fiber, so if you put it back after juicing or worse off use any of the added fibers you will see in supplement form, the encapsulation is not being performed anymore.
Now you have to also consider that the main carbohydrate in fruit is Fructose, not glucose. So your main concern here is not the rise in blood sugar levels, but the overload you are giving to your liver when over consuming fructose. As other commenter said, if you try hard to eat a lot of oranges, you will most likely eat 3 and stop there; but with juice, you can easily chug 2-3 cups which can amount to 18+ oranges… if you do the math, some orange juice contains more carbs(fructose) than your average soda, effectively making it worse.
My answer to OPs original question is 3.5, fruit is healthy for most individuals, but if you are already sick with insulin resistance (which is pretty much never diagnosed) or already diagnosed with T2D, then you should avoid the sweetest forms of fruit. Fruit juice is to be avoided by all, it should be something very occasional for those with great metabolic health.
The only thing is that drinking juice makes the process of extracting glucose more fast, which means it spikes your blood sugar.
What I go with is that juice for me is a treat and I don’t count it with my daily servings of fruit
You should have done a poll. But the answer is 3. If you blend fruit the fiber is still there but’s it’s disturbed and you still get high insulin spikes.
So just eat your fruit whole. I think the exceptions to this are bananas and berries, which are fine to blend.