Juice is worse for you than soda

[Guest guest]

Drinking juice is no better than drinking soda

 

" People think juice is healthy, but it's not, " says Dr. Robert H.

Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at UCSF and director of

the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Clinic.

" Drinking juice †" even if it says " 100% natural " †" is no better than

drinking soda. "

 

Lustig is on a mission to dispel common misunderstandings about juice.

He says the perceptions that juice is good for you and that it's

natural are not only incorrect, they're also contributing to today's

childhood obesity epidemic.

 

" Juice and soda essentially contain the same carbohydrates, so the

body reacts to them the same way, " Lustig explains. " Juice contains

fructose, glucose and sucrose, while soda contains high-fructose corn

syrup, which is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. "

 

He adds that juice is actually worse than soda because juice has a

higher energy density or more calories per ounce. While most sodas

have 150 calories in a 12-ounce serving, juices have about 170

calories for the same amount.

 

" People incorrectly think juice is natural and healthy simply because

it's extracted from fruit. But there's nothing natural about

extracting juice from fruit, " says Lustig. " It's the fruit in its

entirety that's good for you. The human body needs the fiber, which is

what holds the fruit together. The fiber is the good part of the fruit

and the juice is the bad part of the fruit. The juice is nature's way

of getting you to eat your fiber. "

 

What also makes juice so bad is that it's high in fructose. On the

scale of sugars, fructose is the sweetest. It's followed by

high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose or table sugar, glucose and lactose

or milk sugar at the bottom of the list. In the United States,

fructose ingestion has increased 30 percent in the last 10 years.

Because fructose is so sweet, people tend to consume more of whatever

it's in.

 

More harm than good

 

Fructose is harmful to the body in two ways, explains Lustig. First,

it doesn't suppress ghrelin, which is the hunger hormone that's

produced in the stomach. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin levels are

high, which produces the sensation of hunger. After eating, as the

stomach processes the food, ghrelin levels drop (over a half-hour

period), producing the feeling of satiety.

 

However, fructose has no effect on suppressing ghrelin and, therefore,

no effect on suppressing hunger. In other words, children can consume

a 180-calorie fructose beverage and not have those calories affect

this hunger hormone. These unacknowledged calories promote the excess

weight gain.

 

Second, fructose harms the liver. Even though fructose is a

carbohydrate in terms of its molecular structure, it acts like a fat

when it's metabolized. Both fructose and fat go straight from the

bloodstream into the liver, without being regulated the hormone insulin.

 

This is very different from glucose, which is regulated by insulin as

it enters the liver. Insulin turns glucose into glycogen, which is the

stored form of glucose and is not harmful. The body can store as much

glycogen in the liver as it needs.

 

However, fructose is metabolized into a compound called acetyl-Co-A.

Normally the body processes acetyl-Co-A and oxygen into carbon

dioxide, water and energy in a process called the Krebs cycle.

 

However, the Krebs cycle is unable to process the high amounts of

acetyl-Co-A made from fructose present in juices and sodas. The excess

acetyl-Co-A can damage the body in several ways.

 

First, excess acetyl-Co-A can produce a compound that is toxic to beta

cells in the pancreas. Some people think this may be what triggers

type 2 diabetes. In addition, acetyl-Co-A also is converted to form

free fatty acids, which enter the bloodstream and promote

atherosclerosis (cholesterol deposits in the arteries). The free fatty

acids, can also build up in the liver and cause liver disease similar

to what is seen in long-term alcoholism.

 

" Acetyl-Co-A damages the liver the same way alcohol does, " says

Lustig. Fructose causes a condition known as nonalcoholic fatty liver

disease (NAFLD). This condition, in which fat accumulates in the liver

causing inflammation, results in cirrhosis.

 

" In my practice, I've had a 15-year-old boy who needed a liver

transplant from drinking soda †" his condition of NAFLD was that bad.

I've also had a 6-year-old morbidly obese patient who drank a gallon

of orange juice a day, " says Lustig.

 

" The mother thought juice was healthy because she got if from WIC, " he

explains. WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children, a government

entitlement program, which was set up to prevent failure to thrive.

Although WIC has now put limitations on the amount of juice it gives

families, it not only sends the incorrect message that juice is

healthy, but it doesn't provide fresh fruit. "

 

Lustig says this is one of many instances where public policy must

change. " We need to educate people on the dangers of juice and soda

just like we did with the tobacco industry. "

 

" We also need to get juice and sodas out of the schools. Here in

California, sodas are out of the schools, but juice and sports drinks

are in instead. We're substituting one bad product for another.

They're equally dangerous, " explains Lustig.

 

Obviously, educating the public on the dangers of fructose-laden

beverages needs to continue.