Are you Juicing?

If you think having a glass of orange juice is a healthy way to start the day, think again. A growing number of experts are warning that 100 percent fruit juice is as bad for you and will make you just as likely to become obese as starting the day with a can of Coke.

According to a great LA Times article on the topic, written by Karen Kaplan, a leading scientist at UC Davis has found that people who consume high levels of fructose (found equally in both juice and soda) increases risk factors for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. In fact, glass for glass, juice usually has even more sugar-packed calories than soda. A cup of orange juice, for example, has 112 calories whereas the same quantity of Coke has 97.

In 1997, one study on the effects of drinking juice found that kids who drank at least 12 ounces of juice a day were more than three times more likely than other kids to be overweight or obese. Not all studies have found this link, but scientists say the link is logical.

Whole fruit, however, is great health-wise. Full of water, fiber and vitamins, when a person consumes fructose in the form of a whole piece of fruit, the sugar enters the body relatively slowly so the liver has time to convert it into energy. But a single glass of apple juice has the fructose of six apples, and can be consumed in a single (large) gulp.

The moral: replace that morning glass of OJ with a whole orange.

Brien