Findings: Real juice not cause of obesity
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Drink up, kids — that fruit juice might not be as bad for you as mom fears.
A new health review co-authored by LSU human ecology professor Carol O’Neil shows that there is no link between childhood obesity and the consumption of 100 percent fruit juice.
However, that designation is not a subtle one, O’Neil said. The juice must be made from 100 percent fruit and free of the sugars often found in store-bought “punches,” “cocktails” or “drinks.”
“A lot of these fruit products will say ‘made with real fruit juice,’” O’Neil said, “but there are jelly beans out there that say they are made with real fruit juices.”
The discovery flies in the face of conventional wisdom and prior studies.
“This actually is a fairly charged issue,” O’Neil said.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, reviewed nine prior studies which seemed to contradict one another as to the effect fruit juice had on children.
Upon examination, many of those studies showed faulty methodology in coming to the conclusion that fruit juice could lead to obesity, the review said. Several studies used too small or too remote of a sampling pool to be considered scientifically significant. Another study looked only at the influence of apple juice, and another only at the effect of juice on children who were already overweight.
As O’Neil and co-author Theresa A. Nicklas of the Baylor College of Medicine sorted through the weeds of the various studies, they concluded that none could link 100 percent fruit juice to obesity in otherwise healthy children.
Regardless, O’Neil warns that children’s recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables should not be wholly replaced by 100 percent fruit juice.
No more than a third of a child’s daily fruit intake should come from juice. Kids still need the real thing to ensure their growing bodies receive all the nutrients they need.
“It’s a part of the diet,” O’Neil said, “but not the diet.”
A new health review co-authored by LSU human ecology professor Carol O’Neil shows that there is no link between childhood obesity and the consumption of 100 percent fruit juice.
However, that designation is not a subtle one, O’Neil said. The juice must be made from 100 percent fruit and free of the sugars often found in store-bought “punches,” “cocktails” or “drinks.”
“A lot of these fruit products will say ‘made with real fruit juice,’” O’Neil said, “but there are jelly beans out there that say they are made with real fruit juices.”
The discovery flies in the face of conventional wisdom and prior studies.
“This actually is a fairly charged issue,” O’Neil said.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, reviewed nine prior studies which seemed to contradict one another as to the effect fruit juice had on children.
Upon examination, many of those studies showed faulty methodology in coming to the conclusion that fruit juice could lead to obesity, the review said. Several studies used too small or too remote of a sampling pool to be considered scientifically significant. Another study looked only at the influence of apple juice, and another only at the effect of juice on children who were already overweight.
As O’Neil and co-author Theresa A. Nicklas of the Baylor College of Medicine sorted through the weeds of the various studies, they concluded that none could link 100 percent fruit juice to obesity in otherwise healthy children.
Regardless, O’Neil warns that children’s recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables should not be wholly replaced by 100 percent fruit juice.
No more than a third of a child’s daily fruit intake should come from juice. Kids still need the real thing to ensure their growing bodies receive all the nutrients they need.
“It’s a part of the diet,” O’Neil said, “but not the diet.”
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