Should my child drink fruit juice?
Drinking a glass of 100% fruit juice has long been thought of as a healthy daily habit for both adults and children – right up there with brushing your teeth and eating your vegetables.
Recently, however, people have become somewhat confused about juice – how much to drink, how much to serve their children – partly because of the natural sweet taste of fruit juice. According to Dr. Theresa Nicklas, professor of pediatrics with Baylor College of Medicine, who has conducted research on juice consumption among children, parents should be confident serving their children appropriate amounts of 100% fruit juice.
Appropriate amounts, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), are 4-6 ounces of 100% juice daily for children 1-6 years old, and 8-12 ounces daily for older children from ages 7-18. The AAP statement, as well as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid, includes guidelines for incorporating 100% juice as a fruit serving. Here, the Juice Products Association answers parents’ questions…
Are whole fruits a better source of nutrients than juice?
Not necessarily. The US Dietary Guidelines recommend that a majority of consumers’ daily fruit servings come from whole fruit, but adults and children are notorious under-consumers of fruit. A serving of 100% fruit juice is a convenient way to help meet the recommended servings of fruit. Fruit juice also provides substantial contributions of several nutrients in higher amounts in the diet than do whole fruits, including vitamin C, folate and potassium. In addition, 100% fruit juice contains many naturally occurring phytonutrients that contribute to good health. However, it doesn’t contain the fiber that whole fruits have.
Does fruit juice have a lot of sugar and calories?
No – 100% fruit juice has a similar sugar profile to fruit. The way nutritionists look at foods and beverages is in terms of ‘nutrient density’ – or the amount of vitamins and nutrients the food provides for its calories. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans acknowledge the role 100% fruit juice can play in the diet.
Does fruit juice make children fat?
No. The majority of research conducted on 100% fruit juice consumption in children does not show a connection to weight. As a child nutrition researcher, Dr. Nicklas states that there are many factors associated with childhood obesity that are very poorly understood and more research is needed regarding diet and also lifestyle and activity levels.
Two recently published studies which investigated the relationship between 100% juice consumption and children’s body weight support the conclusion that consumption of 100% juice isn’t associated with overweight or risk of overweight among children. In fact, the research conducted by Dr. Nicklas and her colleagues also demonstrated that children consuming 100% juice had higher intake of certain nutrients, such as vitamin C, iron and folate, and lower intake of total fat, saturated fat and added sugar. Her study is based on the largest, ongoing government database on food consumption (NHANES – the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey).
Does fruit juice increase the risk of diabetes?
Extensive research has never linked juice intake with an increased risk for diabetes. A recent analysis of the most recent NHANES data (sponsored by the Juice Products Association, not yet published) has concluded that fruit juice consumption does not cause an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome (a precursor to pre- and type 2 diabetes) or negatively affect glucose or insulin levels. In fact, the data actually show that 100% fruit juice consumption is associated with a lower risk of metabolic syndrome.