15 years ago, WHO recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and obesity daily consumption of 5 servings of vegetables and fruits, where a serving is the amount of food in a handful - 1 apple, 2 tomatoes, or a handful of lettuce, or a glass of juice.
But for today fruit juices cannot be considered a healthy and necessary drink, especially for children. Active promotion of the benefits of fruit juices is nothing more than a marketing technique. The BBC, for example, proposes excluding juices from the list of healthy foods that are recommended for daily consumption:
- The main argument is the presence of 6 teaspoons of sugar per glass of water in reconstituted juices, which is even more than in Coca-Cola. This is fraught with the development of diabetes, obesity, caries, etc. Therefore, juice can be given to a child only occasionally, as an alternative to candy or other sweets. Moreover, you should not give juices to quench your thirst, since the effect will be exactly the opposite.
- The indication “sugar-free” on the label should also be alarming, since such a marketing ploy to increase sales indicates the presence of artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes, the harm of which is also obvious (E950 Acesulfame potassium, E951 aspartame).
- Also often added to juices lemon acid, which impedes the absorption of calcium and contributes to the destruction of tooth enamel.
- Juices can cause an allergic reaction, diarrhea, and provoke the development of dysbiosis and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
- There are large quantities of juice-containing drinks on sale, so-called nectars with a reduced juice content of 15-50%, the rest is sugar syrup and flavors identical to natural ones, as well as artificial vitamins (see).
- British dentists warn that high acidity fruit cocktails and juices pose an even greater danger to children’s teeth than sweets. First, acids corrode the enamel, then chips and cracks appear in which bacteria that cause caries multiply. Dentists complain that the younger generation of children in the UK are refusing to drink plain water, giving preference to fruit juices.
How can a drink prepared as follows be useful? The vacuum bags that we buy in stores contain “reconstituted juice,” that is, a concentrate diluted with water.
Simply put, it is a sweet liquid with the taste of fruit, which does not contain natural vitamins, but contains artificial ones, the dangers of which for both adults and children have been talked about for a long time.
After the juice has been squeezed out of the fruit, the liquid is removed from it using modern technologies, the resulting concentrate is then frozen, and when it is time to use it, it is diluted with water and pasteurized to prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria and increase shelf life. There's no way to call it useful product, a drink that has gone through so many stages of processing does not and cannot have any beneficial properties.
To benefit from the juice, you should wash the fruit, squeeze out the juice, and drink it within 10 minutes after preparing it. Drink in small sips for better absorption and no more than 150 grams per day. Why? In one glass orange juice, for example, 3-4 oranges, naturally a child cannot eat that much, so it is difficult for him to drink such an amount, and there is no need for it.
It is better to give your baby the fruit itself or a puree of it; it contains fiber that is good for the gastrointestinal tract and natural vitamins. Thus, the child will eat as much as he wants, as much as his body requires. Because children eat only the amount of food they need, unlike adults, whose sense of proportion and such control becomes dulled with age.
Before talking about the benefits of juices from the store, you should learn to distinguish between the concepts of “nectar” and “juice”. In Russia, nectar is diluted juice with a water content of up to 90%. The amount of ingredients is determined by GOSTs, OSTs, and TUs. In Europe the situation is more interesting - the juice there must contain at least 50% juice, and the rest can be water, i.e. In our opinion it is nectar. In Russia, if the package says “juice,” then it must be juice, not diluted with water.
A special category consists of various fruit drinks (essentially the same nectars), milk drinks and cocktails containing juice. The juices themselves are cold-pressed, with pulp, enriched with vitamins (usually for children), etc. Cold pressed juices are not heat treatment, and therefore theoretically preserve beneficial features fruits from which they are made. Juice with pulp is preferable because it clearly demonstrates that the juice is obtained from the fruit and not from a complex chemical reaction.
The shorter the shelf life, the greater the benefits of juice. There is an excellent recommendation - it is given for fruits and vegetables, but it is fair for juices - to eat only what can grow in your region. In Russia these are apples, cherries, pears, watermelons, melons, currants, birch, tomatoes, but not oranges or pineapples. Of course, the modern food industry can ensure the preservation of any food for the longest possible time, but what grows in abundance under your nose is more likely not to be subjected to chemical “experiments” and will not be diluted for additional savings.
Juices are best stored in glass containers. For example, Azerbaijani is famous pomegranate juice in liter glass bottles. As a rule, juices are more expensive than nectars (glass containers also add a premium). But, in general, the correlation between price and quality is not so obvious: a natural product made from local raw materials will be even cheaper than nectar from foreign raw materials.
How healthy are juices from the store?
If we are talking specifically about juice, then store-bought juice is useful to the same extent as homemade juice, and maybe even more. The fact is that the manufacturer will save money in any case, and therefore there are fewer nutrients in such juice than in homemade juice. But the body of a city dweller is not adapted to absorb large doses of vitamins in liquid form (strictly speaking, evolutionarily the human body did not specialize in such products at all, but villagers more often sit on fruit and vegetable “diets” and their digestive system ready for juices better) and may react somewhat differently than expected (the stomach may twist and swell - and this is still a payback with little blood).
For urban people, it’s better to start with something simpler, for example, nectars and fruit drinks. You should not drink juices in one gulp, the whole liter or one and a half at once. You shouldn’t drink that much even in a day. It is much better to drink a glass, but every day, i.e. systematically. In summer and autumn, when there are enough fruits and vegetables, you should not rely on store-bought juice at all - buy regular fruit. In general, if possible, preference should always be given to natural forms.
Over the years of the new century, many Russians have fallen in love natural juices, which is confirmed by the threefold increase in sales of drinks, the basis of which is liquid isolated mechanically from the fruits of vegetable gardens and orchards. We are catching up with the Americans, Chinese and Germans who are leading the list of fans aromatic drinks from natural products. After conducting an investigation, let's try to understand: in bright boxes and bottles with strawberries, apples, bananas, mangoes, carrots, etc. on the labels, are we being offered healthy drinks? Or should we leave natural juice prepared at industrial enterprises on store shelves and eat only fresh fruits and prepare juices from them ourselves?
By comparing freshly squeezed juice from an orange (or from any other fruit or vegetable) with its prototype from a package, you can come to the conclusion that they are similar to each other only in color, and even then, not always. However, the process of extracting aromatic liquid from fruits in industrial conditions is carried out by boiling, then it is sterilized, which significantly affects the color of the resulting drink.
Having read the accompanying text on the pack or glass container, assuring that the colorful container contains natural juice, you should understand that the liquid inside contains no less than 10 percent of the most saturated juice, diluted with pure, specially treated, drinking water. The ratio of the two main components of a store-bought drink is 1 to 9 and is quite natural. Apart from them, quality products should not contain anything else. Nectars must contain at least half of the above percentages of juice concentrate, diluted with water and sugar. A drink containing less than five percent concentrated juice can only claim the title “juice drink,” and among its components there are often various synthetic components.
Is packaged juice healthy?
The most popular among buyers are the so-called juices reconstituted from concentrate, and not drinks obtained by direct extraction, since the difference in price is quite significant. It is believed that they also benefit the human body, since they contain both mineral components and vitamins, because the method of obtaining concentrates is gentle evaporation at a temperature of about 60 degrees.
Do all juices contain sweeteners?
Reputable manufacturers who value their reputation avoid the use of sugar in the production of their juices; this kind of sweetener can only be used in the preparation of nectars, as well as in drinks from the fruits of citrus trees. Brands that try to cheat and sweeten fruit or vegetable drinks are doomed to lose - the buyer has become a very picky consumer and prefers to pay money for quality juices.
Do juices contain artificial flavors?
A good manufacturer adds only natural flavors to the reconstituted juices, obtained during the initial processing of the prepared fruits by “catch.”
Are there dyes in the juice?
An honest manufacturer of drinks made from fruits or vegetables only adds dye to juice, which is based on pomegranate. Otherwise, the resulting liquid, although rich in vitamins, will look very unpresentable. For the same reason, factories producing drinks from natural ingredients are forced to add dyes to other red juices.
Should you prefer juices from a foreign manufacturer in glass containers?
Of course, foreign manufacturers are more law-abiding, and therefore produce drinks of much higher quality, but the final cost of each glass bottle of juice is three-quarters per container. In addition, vitamin liquids in such containers last for three hours. heat treatment In paper tetra packs, juices are exposed to high temperatures for less time.
Vitamin drinks for baby food - is it worth giving children factory juices?
The presence of an inscription on the package or bottle of juice indicating that the drink contained in them is recommended for baby food, guarantees the naturalness of all components included and the absence of sugar.
If the juice is stored for a long time, does it contain preservatives?
Any natural juice is full of fruit acids and contains natural sugars, which act as internal preservatives, the concentration of which is sufficient for the normal preservation of the resulting drinks for a long time. When placed in sterilized containers, drinks are stored for a long time; once unpacked, they should be drunk within 2-3 days. And for children, drinks are specially produced in small bags or bottles for use at a time.
It turns out that factory-made juices are conditionally natural drinks, and the more responsible and well-known their manufacturer is, the higher-quality products are provided to consumers.
beauty100% natural, without the use of preservatives or flavors. However, they are not made from fresh fruit, but from concentrate - such juices are called reconstituted, this is always written on the packaging, but not everyone knows what this means. This concentrate contains much less vitamins than fresh fruit, it with water to get juice.
Most store-bought juices last from several months to a year, while any freshly squeezed juice disappears within a few days. In natural fruits, over time, a fermentation process begins, releasing gases that would inevitably explode the packaging. To prevent this, manufacturers add preservatives to juices or heat them - temperature exposure extends shelf life, but destroys almost all remaining vitamins. As a result, the juice is reduced almost to a minimum.
Most juices presented on store shelves are actually nectars, but not all manufacturers directly write about this in a prominent place on the packaging. Nectar is sugar syrup with the addition of a small amount of fruit concentrate. The amount of sugar in these is huge and causes great harm to the human body. The fact is that people are usually not perceived as a product that is significant in terms of energy, although in fact one liter package of nectar can contain 500 or more (which is approximately equal to a full lunch from soup and main course), and instead of losing weight thanks to such “proper” nutrition, the person begins to gain weight.
Cold juices seem less sweet, and a person drinks more, resulting in problems with metabolism and excess weight.
Also, flavorings and dyes are added to nectars to give the syrup taste and color, which are also far from beneficial for. The small percentage of fruit concentrate that is used to make nectar is usually made from low-quality, unripe fruit that lacks a distinct flavor and adds acidity to the drink.
The benefits of store-bought juices
If the juice is without added sugar, then it can still bring some benefit - after all, a small amount of vitamins remains in it. It is important to carefully consider the choice of drink. The composition should not contain sugar, as well as sweeteners - sucrose, aspartame, fructose, and the proportion of concentrate should be at least 70%.
As a rule, high-quality juices have a higher price, since they are made from good ripe fruits, which are not cheap.
You can also drink fresh juices - packaged freshly squeezed juices that are stored for several days. They are usually sold in large supermarkets, but they may also contain preservatives and other additives.
The most pressing question that everyone faces is: should you bother making your own juice if you can buy the same thing in the store? Most people are already aware that labels such as “fruit drink” or “contains real fruit juice” indicate that such a product is largely consists of water and sugar. However, relatively recently, bottles of juices labeled “100% fruit” or “all natural” have appeared on store shelves and look as if they were freshly prepared. Unfortunately, even such seemingly healthy juices differ from homemade ones.
All purchased juices begin their journey with vegetables and fruits growing in gardens or fields. However, they have a very long way to go before they become juice. For juice to be extracted, fruits and vegetables placed in an ultra-high-speed centrifugal juicer. This method of preparation is fraught with heating and oxidation of the resulting juice, which in turn leads to damage to phytonutrients. Afterwards, all juices undergo a pasteurization process so that they can be stored for a long time. For 45 minutes, the juice is “cooked” at 110 degrees. Sterilization occurs, the juice is cleared of both impurities and most nutrients.
That's not all. For better storage and convenient transportation, water (80%) is removed from the juice, a kind of concentrate is obtained. Once this concentrate reaches its destination, it is mixed with water and other juice concentrates in accordance with necessary prescription. Additional ingredients are also added, which are synthetic vitamins and minerals, various sweeteners, colors and flavorings. The “juice” is then bottled and packaged with fancy labels that will list only real juices with “natural flavors and colors” and vitamins (chemically added).
If you still decide to buy store-bought juice...
Remember - not all store-bought juices are created equal. Are you going to buy juice at the store? Pay attention to the label. Look where it says " not pasteurized" And " not from concentrate" It's even better to get "organic" juice to avoid pesticides. If you are lucky, you may find freshly squeezed juice in the store with an expiration date of several days. Choose Fresh Juice"cold pressed"- this means that it was not processed at high speeds. Be sure to check the date. Freshly squeezed juice spoils quickly and it is best consumed no later than the next day after preparation.
How about juice bars?
There are special bars where you can come and enjoy freshly squeezed juice. This is a great replacement store-bought juice. In such bars you can buy ready-made juice, packaged in bottles, but we recommend spending a little more time and waiting until the juice is prepared right in front of you. You will be 100% sure that the juice is really fresh and saturated maximum amount of nutrients. In addition, we recommend paying attention to what type of juicer is used. Unfortunately, today, high speed centrifugal juicers the most common machines used in juice bars. This is because they make juice very quickly, at speeds in excess of 10,000 rpm, which causes heating and oxidation to occur. Try to drink this juice right away to get the remaining beneficial vitamins.
The good news is that it has already appeared cold press juicer, which is in no way inferior to centrifugal models in the speed of juice preparation. Sana HoReCa is the first commercial auger juicer. If you are lucky enough to find a juice bar that uses this particular machine, then you can rest assured that you will get the highest quality and healthy juice , which can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.