SINGAPORE: Watching the fruit juice dealer prepare that glass of apple juice leaves many in absolute confidence that it’s miles full of nutritious goodness. Indeed, many in Singapore are turning to consume fruit juices as a healthier alternative to sugary beverages.
But checks CNA performed with the assistance of experts at Temasek Polytechnic showed that juices are not always the healthier choice. Whether clean, cold-pressed, or pre-packaged, they might incorporate as much deal if not more, sugar than a can of soft drink. The tests showed that there may be more sugar in a 300 ml cup of freshly organized red apple juice in comparison to a 320 ml can of soft drink.
A lecturer from the School of Applied Science at Temasek Polytechnic Guo Ren designed and supervised the test completed with the aid of two Year 2 college students from the Applied Food Science and Nutrition direction to quantify the number of sugars found in freshly made fruit juices.
The juices of pink apple, watermelon, and orange, in addition to popular combos of apple, beetroot, and carrot, popularly referred to as ABC; tomato, watermelon, and lemon, as well as orange and ginger, have been extracted into a 300ml cup and not using ice introduced.
The amount of sugar, which includes naturally occurring sugars, was measured with a refractometer for the experiment. These were the results.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EATING FRUIT AND DRINKING FRUIT JUICE
Dr. Kalpana Bhaskaran, who heads the Centre for Applied Nutrition Services, said that nutritionally, it’s far better to eat the actual fruit in place of ingesting its juice, even though freshly prepared. This is for reasons of quantity and fines.
She stated the juicing method could strip away dietary fibers. Some of the nutrients and minerals found in entire fruits could additionally be lost.
And considering that multiple fruits could generally be used to make a glass of juice, the quantity of sugar in the juice will also be better as compared to consuming a single fruit.
Dr. Kalpana, who is also the vice-president of Diabetes Singapore, suggested that human beings should be mindful of the number of carbohydrates and sugar they’re consuming.
“We should no longer neglect that fruit juices are a concentrated source of sugar. People are better off eating the fruit,” she said. That way, people won’t lose the fiber, they can manage the calorie intake, and can feel more complete from chewing on the fruit.
Using a medium-sized crimson apple weighing 130g, for instance, Dr. Kalpana stated consuming it affords 15g of carbohydrates, in general, from naturally occurring sugars which include fructose, sucrose, and glucose. But primarily based on the experiment, forty-two g of sugar might be consumed while drinking a 300ml cup of apple juice.
In reality, stripping the fiber off the culmination through the juicing process isn’t always just awful for the bowels. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) stated that fiber in the diet helps to sluggish the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream.
“Without the fiber, the large amount of sugar from fruit juices enters the bloodstream speedily and reasons a sugar spike, similar to what takes place when we drink sweetened beverages like sodas,” a spokesperson stated.
Over time, this wears out the pancreas, which produces insulin, and can cause weight gain and diabetes, she said.
“Many people may think that going on sugar is healthier than introduced sugar, however, there may be no chemical distinction between the two, and they have the same impact on blood sugar level when ingested,” the HPB spokesperson stated.
For this reason, HPB said that eating sparkling fruit juices isn’t any different from ingesting pre-packaged juices.
Making it worse, a few stores add sugar to their freshly-prepared fruit juices, Dr. Kalpana said. Sugar ought to be overlooked, as it is dissolved in the water, which is delivered. In reality, one of the shops CNA visited admitted to including sugar in their fruit juices, as the drink might be “tasteless” in any other case.
IS COLD-PRESSED JUICE BETTER?
Cold-pressed juices had been gaining in reputation for being a “better alternative”. A unique juicer is used to slowly pulverise the fruit to extract the juice whilst preserving as lots of the nutrients as possible.
But HPB said when it comes to sugar content, they’re no different from juices extracted via an everyday juicer.
“As the pulp is left at the back of it, it nonetheless loses the beneficial fibers that slow sugar absorption, improve digestive health, and enable one to feel fuller. Hence, cold-pressed juices have the same effect as conventionally extracted juices on blood sugar levels, weight advantage, and diabetes,” a spokesperson explained.
HPB additionally cited facts from market studies company Mintel to expose that pre-packaged “100 according to cent” fruit juice without added sugar had a comparable quantity of sugar to other juice liquids that do not have such labels.
The board recommended that purchasers select complete culmination over fruit juice and to restrict fruit juices to no a couple of glass an afternoon. This is aligned with the World Health Organisation’s hints to limit the consumption of sugar, the spokesperson introduced.
“To keep a healthful weight and prevent diabetes, we need to restrict our consumption of all sorts of sugars – each naturally occurring and introduced,” she stated.
Dr. Kalpana recounted that being out on a sunny day could go away one craving with the feel of a chilly fruit juice hitting the throat.
“They can get a small portion, with ice, and specify for it to be made without sugar,” she said.
