So this interesting study came out echoing some previous thoughts on fast-carbs, and ultimately supported the idea of eating your fruit instead of drinking it.
One of the more clever things it Did do, was to note that some fruits more than others were associated with health problems like Diabetes.
But some of the other things it wasn’t really focused on, was to suggest reasons Why, or to fill in too many of the blanks.
So on that note, here are a few thoughts on it you might want to consider:
1) Juices pre-packaged instead of fresh will likely have more sugar and less water than something straight from a juicer.
Read the Nutrition Facts label and weep.
Also, depending on the preservatives they might put in, sugar is also added to mask the flavor of them.
-Same reason a can of coffee has 2-3x the calories of what you get at Starbucks.
2) Even those juices made fresh will have a higher Glycemic Index + Load than eating the whole fruit.
On-average, the study found that glycemic index was 2x as high in the juice vs. the fruit.
And the Fiber was reduced by 80%. -Which leads to…
3) When you eat the whole fruit, you crush it much less efficiently than a blender or a juicer.
This makes more work for your digestive system.
Which ends up reducing the total amount of sugar that gets into your bloodstream, and how fast it gets there.
Because liquids will go right through to the intestine very quickly, where the sugars in them are absorbed fast and precipitate insulin-response, fat-storage, or both.
Solids on the other hand, will take a lot longer.
-And so will any bits of sugar trapped inside those solids.
You also might end up absorbing fewer calories in-total, because of how different juicing is vs. chewing.
4) You will be missing out on the Fiber, Vitamins, other beneficial phytochemicals, and some water if you drink juice.
There is still plenty of good stuff in the flesh.
And it’s discarded in the juicing process; even in fresh-from-fruit juice, like the stuff the wild-eyebrowed-juice-man freebases on QVC at 3am.
5) Because of typical eating & drinking habits, the amounts people are likely to consume in the form of juice add-up to several times what they would eat in whole fruit.
Nobody drinks just 4oz of OJ.
And how many oranges does it take to make the 12oz. everyone normally drinks? -It’s more than one.
How many oranges are most people likely to eat in a sitting? -One.
+And how many calories in both? 160+ for the 12oz juice, 60 for the one orange.
So you’re not only getting more of the worst kind of calories you could get, you’re getting almost 3x as much of them.
6) Liquid-Carbs of any kind are a bad habit to get into in-general.
-Even fruit-juices. Once you start on sweet drinks it may be easier to get into them more often and into lower-quality ones like soda, or even re/develop cravings for Fast Carbs in-general.
And similar to #3, Liquids will not fill you up; -at least not for long.
So your stomach will be in on the plot to make you fatter, by depriving you of the total fullness those 160+ calories should feel like.
Contrast that against 1.5 bricks of spinach from the frozen-foods aisle. -Imagine how full you’d feel if you ate that. Big difference, right?
7) The average person’s liver can only process about 50 grams of Fructose per day.
After that, the rest is converted straight into fat. And fat kills.
How much of your 50 grams/day of Fructose do you get in one 12oz glass of OJ?
-Almost all of them. About 39g.
8) And according to the study, there is a higher correlation between Diabetes and juice-drinkers versus their whole-fruit-eating counterparts.
The researchers found that people who drank something even as healthy-seeming as wholesome, natural, fruit juice ended-up with at least a 10% Increased Risk of that disease.
But replacing juices with whole fruit lowered that percentage for almost all varieties they tested (except Strawberries & Cantaloupe). -And in some cases, by as much as 33%; Ex: for the trials on Blueberries.
8 1/2) A few odd notes:
Even More good news?
The benefits for Blueberries, Grapes and Raisins, and Apples and Pears remained statistically significant even after adjusting for every single mitigating factor the researchers could dream up!
ACHTUNG Acai-Crazies, Don’t freak-out, now!:
Other similar studies found that fruits rich in Anthocyanins like Blueberries and Bilberry [ed: and Yes, probably Acai] increased metabolism of glucose by all tissues in the body, and slowed down production of it by the liver.
+NO, they did not say anything about those people getting down to 8% Body-Fat in JUST! 3 weeks while snorting an endless rail of Twinkies at the same time.
Killer Melons:
One Especially-Weird note was people who even consumed the whole-fruit version of Cantaloupe didn’t experience any benefits.
In-fact, despite not drinking juice, they still had a 12% higher risk of Diabetes than the whole-fruit eaters.
In addition to their now-established desire to kill you, it gets worse.
Cantaloupe & Melons in-general also have lower levels of all the beneficial phytochemicals than any of the aforementioned fruits.
-Cindy Crawford’s desire to rub one on your face, notwithstanding.
Check out the links for the rest of the details on the study:
Photo Credits:
Publicity photo for the movie, “8 1/2”, by Federico Fellini
Publicity photo of Claudia Cardinale, for the movie, “8 1/2”
Model drinking wine, photo by Bert Stern, Vogue Magazine, April 1962, via pleasurephoto.wordpress.com
Publicity photo of Sophia Loren for the movie, “Boccacio ’70”, by Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, and Mario Monicelli
Links:
• Source: BBC
• via: TheVerge
• More Coverage: Harvard
• Source Studies:
BMJ-Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies
AJCN-Dietary flavonoid intakes and risk of type 2 diabetes in US men and women
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