Season 2, Ep 1 - Juice
Facts and Figures - Juice
Orange juice is our favourite type of juice – we drink almost 15 million litres of it a year.
90% of Juices sold in NZ are 'made from concentrate', often known as reconstituted juice.
Concentrate is popular with juice companies because it's cheaper and more efficent to transport whilst helping to retain a consistent flavour.
Squeezed juice is NOT from concentrate. Only about 6% of juice sold in supermarkets is 'squeezed'.
Only product with 100% juice can be called fruit juice. Others are called fruit 'drink' and may contain 5-99% juice.
Any product under 5% fruit juice is a 'flavoured drink'.
Drinking fruit juice whilst eating helps absorb nutrients (particularly iron) whilst Vitamin C assists the absorbion of folate and calcium, which is often added to fruit juice.
Pasteurisation is the process of killing off naturally occuring bacteria from juice to ensure the juice has a longer shelf life. Legally, all juices must be pasteurised. Those 'less pasteurised' juices are usually found in the chiller at your supermarket.
Fruit juice (and drink) contain significant amounts of sugar, close to that found in a can of cola. More than 90 grams of sugar a day is considered a high intake for adults. On average, NZ children consume 124 grams of sugar per day - the majority of this from beverages rather than sweets.
Sugar comes in many forms/ names. Any ingredient ending with 'ose' ie: sucrose, frucose, glucose etc. is also sugar. Juices and fruit drinks are best consumed with a meal – saliva acts a buffer which prevents the sugar content and acidity of the drink from eroding teeth. Another bonus is that the vitamin C in fruit juices helps us absorb any iron in the accompanying meal. Juices should be served in a glass rather than a sipper bottle to prevent teeth from being bathed in sugary acid over a long period of time.
Sports drinks can be useful for high intensity athletes because they contain salts which help them hydrate us faster. However, they are unnecessary unless we exercise for ninety minutes or longer – they contain a lot of kilojoules which can undo the hard work of shorter periods of exercise.
One glass of fruit juice per day can substitute a serving of fruit in our quest to have 5+ a day.
The Ministry of Health recommends that juice be diluted for younger children:
Children 2-5 years – half juice, half water
Children 1-2 years – one third juice, two thirds water
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