You’ll probably think it doesn’t matter. That a piece of whole fruit is equivalent to that same liquefied fruit, but no. No matter how freshly squeezed it is and no matter how natural it is, the juice contains far fewer properties and vitamins than the whole fruit. In fact, most nutritionists compare eating whole fruit or fruit juice to playing a football game or watching it on television. This is so because for experts, the sugars that are present in fruit juice are considered “free sugars”, which are believed to be involved in the appearance of chronic pathologies. In addition to this, there are many other scientifically proven reasons why consuming a whole piece of fruit is NOT as healthy as eating it in the form of juice . We reveal them to you!!!
Why is it not the same to take the whole fruit as in juice?
We remove nutrients
Fruits themselves contain numerous nutrients. They are basically made up of water, fiber and countless vitamins, as well as natural sugars known as fructose. As they form a whole, it is essential to consume whole fruits if what we want is to benefit from these nutrients. When we squeeze them to make a juice, it is inevitable that some vitamins and minerals are lost along the way, since they remain in the pulp that we are not going to take.
Shell Benefits
The ideal is to consume the whole fruit and with skin. The skin is the place where the fruit interacts with light and forms a wide variety of pigments. These pigments, including flavonoids and carotenoids, have been investigated as nutrients that protect food and health. A clear example is apples. If we eat them without peeling them, we will take advantage of their multiple anthocyanin’s. This component is an antioxidant that contains anti-aging properties, improves visual acuity and provides a lower incidence of a wide variety of malignant tumors. The skin of other whole fruits, like grapes, is also incredibly beneficial. It protects us against free radicals and provides essential minerals that also reduce the risk of cancer. If we turn the fruit into juice, unfortunately it will not always be possible to enjoy the peel and its benefits.
Benefits of the pulp
When converting fruit into juice we usually remove an essential component: the pulp. The orange is a clear example of the health benefits of the pulp . On the one hand, the fleshy white piece of the orange (the pulp) is a fundamental source of flavoids. On the other hand, the juicy part (that of the juice) contains vitamin C. In our body, both vitamin C and flavoids interpenetrate and work together to support health.
Juice reduces the fiber content
The amount of fiber that juices have is much less than that of whole fruit. To make, for example, an apple juice you need approximately four pieces which contain about 12-15 grams of dietary fiber in total. Virtually all of these 15 grams are lost in the production of the juice. The same goes for orange juice. 100 grams of orange contains 2.4 grams of fiber, while 100 grams of orange juice contains 0.1 grams of fiber. As you can see, the amount of fiber present in the juice compared to that present in the whole piece of fruit is almost negligible.
More sugar
Juice that has been deprived of its fiber and wide variety of nutrients becomes basically just a source of sugars that lacks the necessary components to help digest and metabolize. Fruit juice raises blood sugar more quickly than whole fruit, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes .
More calories
A fundamental factor that we must take into account is that when we eat a piece of fruit we are eating just that, a piece of fruit. However, to obtain a glass of juice, we generally use between two and three pieces, since by eliminating the pulp and keeping only the liquid, the volume is less? This causes us to consume more fructose, which translates into a greater number of calories.
Less satiety
Drinking a juice does not get rid of hunger as eating a whole piece of fruit does. The fiber contained in whole fruit helps us fill up. In addition, the fruit must be fermented in the digestive system to be assimilated by our body, while the juice, being liquid, is more easily digested and absorbed much earlier by the body. The fact that fruit must be chewed also has a great influence on the subject of satiety. This factor makes our brain take much longer to transmit the feeling of wanting to put something else in our mouths.
Better natural juice than packaged
In the case of consuming juices, it is always better that they are natural. The ones they sell usually have a very small percentage of real juice. The rest is water, preservatives, and added sweeteners. Neither healthy nor adequate.
In conclusion, juice can be a good option so that those people who do not like eating whole fruit can consume this food, but it must be clear that eating fruit in one form or another is not the same and can vary. enormously the benefits on our health . When you ask yourself which is better, fruit juice or whole fruit, the answer is clear: nothing beats real fruit.