Contributor Ginger Bakos from Dinosaurs are NOT Food, gives us the skinny on 100% Juice. Just because it’s “made from real fruit” doesn’t mean it’s healthy.
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We are all getting pretty wise to sugary drinks like soda and sports drinks, but there is another sugary drink that many parents are completely oblivious to- 100% Fruit Juice. I was, too. But it’s indicated in serious childhood health conditions.
100% Fruit Juice is indicated in the dramatic rise of non-alcoholic fatty liver syndrome, as well as increased childhood obesity rates.
Also, if you look at the breakdown of one of the largest studies of food intake and its impact on weight and health over time conducted by Harvard Health, you will find that 100% fruit juice (along with soda) was indicated in long term weight gain over the course of the study.
It has been bewilderingly given the stamp to call itself a serving of fruit, and it is anything but. 100% fruit juice is straight fructose. Why does that matter? While glucose is absorbed through virtually your entire body, fructose can only be metabolized by the liver. When it can’t metabolize it, it delivers it to fat cells, blood cells and then back to itself. (That’s the short not terribly scientific version, it’s way more complicated than that, obviously. You can read more here.) There are several articles that discuss the link between fructose and fatty liver syndrome, and it should be noted that refined sugars and refined flours are equally indicated.
But isn’t the sugar in fruit fructose?
To be sure! But it also comes packed with fiber, sometimes even fat and other nutrients to help buffer it going straight to your liver. And it is also why fruit is a dessert in our house, so that the kiddos have the rest of the meal to help with that buffer, too.
So get those littles drinking water MOST of the time. A juice drink on the weekend (we have OJ for breakfast on the weekends), or as a treat when you are out to dinner is perfectly OK. But 100% fruit juice should not be given a free pass as a regular beverage.
Dino Tip: I have two 32 oz water bottles that I fill up every morning, and my kiddos know whose is whose and they just get their water on their own. I almost always refill them at dinner time. And it took nothing more than saying “This is your water bottle. You can drink from it whenever you want.” We also take them to the park or on walks. It’s an easy way to encourage a small change that can make a huge difference for your kiddos, now, and in the long term.
Ginger Bakos is a Meal Planning and Food Budget Wizard who writes the blog Dinosaurs Are NOT Food. She is committed to helping moms feed their families well and within their budget, believing that everyone can, and deserves, to eat well! Her greatest passion is freeing moms and kiddos from the “kid food” cycle and guiding them to a healthful and positive relationship with real food. She converted her very own 3 year old Master of All Things Bread and Cheese to a beet and broccoli lover, and she knows you can make it happen in your house, too. You can contact her at ginger@dinosaursarenotfood.com.