Apple juice can pose a health risk - from calories

Dec 4, 2011 (ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - It's true - apple juice can pose a risk to your health. But not necessarily from the trace amounts of arsenic that people are arguing about.

Despite the government's consideration of new limits on arsenic, nutrition experts say apple juice's real danger is to waistlines and children's teeth. Apple

juice has few natural nutrients, lots of calories and, in some cases, more sugar than soda has. It trains a child to like very sweet things, displaces better

beverages and foods, and adds to the obesity problem, its critics say.

'It's like sugar water,' said Judith Stern, a nutrition professor at the University of California, Davis, who has consulted for candy makers as well as for

Weight Watchers. 'I won't let my 3-year-old grandson drink apple juice.'

Background story

If you or your family drinks juice, here is some advice from nutrition experts:

-Choose a juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D-3.

-Give children only pasteurised juice - that's the only type safe from germs that can cause serious disease.

- Don't give juice before 6 months of age, and never put it in bottles or covered cups that allow babies and children to consume it throughout the day,

which can cause tooth decay. For the same reason, don't give infants juice at bedtime.

- Limit juice to 120ml to 180ml per day for children ages 1 to 6, and 8 to 12 ounces for those ages 7 to 18.

- Encourage kids to eat fruit.

- Don't be swayed by healthy-sounding label claims. 'No sugar added' doesn't mean it isn't full of naturally occurring sugar. And 'cholesterol-free' is silly -

only animal products contain cholesterol.

Many juices are fortified with vitamins, so they're not just empty calories. But that doesn't appease some nutritionists. 'If it wasn't healthy in the first place,

adding vitamins doesn't make it into a health food, and if it causes weight gain, it's not a healthy choice,' said Ms Karen Ansel, a registered dietitian in New

York and spokesman for the American Dietetic Association.

Share