Fruit juices should not be counted as part of 'five-a-day' diets because it has been found to contain more sugar than other types of drinks, a recent study confirms.
Dr. Susan Jebb suggests that those people who are used to drinking fruit juices should start drinking more water to wean it all down because it contains a huge serving of sugar. Some brands of orange juice have been found to contain as much sugar as cola and should be ditched because of their potential effect on health. Experts say that consumers these days are getting confusing messages about food, with a huge range of products claiming they may be included in a 'five-a-day' diet.
Some of the products that are providing false claims to consumers include tinned fruit, children's drinks and spaghetti hoops. Juice drinks have been singled out for lacking fiber and other nutrients as well as being high in calories. Even pure fruit juices are said to contain a large amount of naturally occurring sugar but people end up consuming more of it thinking it's actually good and healthy. Dr. Jebb, a professor of diet and population health at Oxford University, said: "I would support taking it (fruit juice) out of the five-a-day guidance.
"Fruit juice isn't the same as intact fruit and it has got as much sugar as many classical sugar drinks. It is also absorbed very fast, so by the time it gets to your stomach your body doesn't know whether it's Coca-Cola or orange juice, frankly. I have to say it is a relatively easy thing to give up. Swap it and have a piece of real fruit. If you are going to drink it, you should dilute it," she added.
