Some experts say we shouldn’t drink any fruit juices at all. Others point to the fibre, vitamins and anti-inflammatories they provide. Here’s what you need to know
When my sister saw me drinking a glass of orange juice at breakfast, she was horrified. “You’re drinking pure sugar!” she said.
Juice, once considered so virtuous people paid good money to go on “juice fasts”, has been demonised over the past decade. The epidemiologist and author Tim Spector has said orange juice should “come with a health warning” and he’d rather people drink Coca-Cola. Despite this, the global juice market is growing, with chains such as Joe & the Juice expanding rapidly – and in an umbrella review last year, Australian researchers found potential health benefits to drinking juice.
So should you jettison your juicer and boycott juice bars? Or add a glass of OJ to your daily diet? I asked the experts to clear up the confusion.
It depends where you live. In the US, 100% juice is a recommended “primary beverage” alongside water. In Canada, though, juice has been excluded from healthy eating guidelines altogether. Other countries tend to be somewhere in between. The UK, Spain and the Netherlands recommend limiting juice to one serving a day, while in New Zealand the limit is once a week and Australia suggests one serving “occasionally”.
