Drinking one glass or more of 100% fruit juice each day is associated with weight gain in children and adults, according to a new analysis of 42 previous studies.

The research, published Tuesday in JAMA Pediatrics, found a positive association between drinking 100% fruit juice and BMI — a calculation that takes into account weight and height — among kids. It also found an association between daily consumption of 100% fruit juice with weight gain among adults.

100% fruit juice was defined as fruit juices with no added sugar.

  • CoreOffset@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    This seems like it would be really obvious, no?

    If you are simply buying fruit juices at the store you are getting zero to virtually zero fiber. So you are getting a bunch of calories but without feeling any sense of fullness that you would get if you instead just ate the fruit.

    Fruit is healthy but you are much better off just eating the fruit and drinking water. If you really want to drink the fruit juice you should just blend the fruit so that you are also getting all the pulp. The fiber is excellent for you and will help prevent you from turning all that juice into “empty” calories.

    • 9point6@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s obvious to anyone who has thought about it, yes. Unfortunately there’s a larger than you expect percentage of people out there who just think “fruit healthy” and that’s where the thought ends

      • CraigeryTheKid@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        my dad, who is quite overweight, would order the sweet potato french fries at Culver’s, after I told him to eat healthier. My mom even supported him - “those are SWEET POTATO fries! that’s healthy!”. I told them that’s not how it works, and it just made them angry.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It doesn’t help that government recommendations have been based on either terrible research or straight up from lobbying groups for so many decades.

        The old food pyramid was insane. Nuts, beans, and red meat all being lumped in the protein category, while all fats and sweets were considered the same. Sugar was just considered a carbohydrate, whether it came from fruits or from soda (high fructose corn syrup). The categories were displayed and expressed as hard lines and there was no nuance at all. Not to mention bread, cereal, rice, pasta all being the largest category… and an entire category for just milk-based items.

        For many people the government recommendation is just taken at face value, often just because that is what they’re taught in school.

      • CoreOffset@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Unfortunately there’s a larger than you expect percentage of people out there who just think “fruit healthy” and that’s where the thought ends

        Totally fair point. As usual I tend to overestimate the general public.

      • Altevisor@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        I think children are generally taught “eat your fruits and vegetables”. It should not be permitted to target children with fruit-branded junk food and mis-marketing

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        One of my friends was staying with me for a few days. She bought 2 half gallons of apple juice (buy one, get one) and she was saying how much she loved it, how healthy it was, and she switched over from soda a while ago. I commented that it’s not really healthy per se because it still contains nearly as much sugar as soda, she didn’t disagree but still said that drinking apple juice just seems healthier since it’s from a fruit.

      • _number8_@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        what does “healthy” even mean in this context exactly? like if i eat 3 apples tomorrow will i tangibly actually feel different? what about every day for a week? month? what exactly are people getting out of this other than the placebo effect from the word ‘healthy’

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yes you’d think that wouldn’t include researchers who do research and publish in pediatric journals though.

    • Catoblepas
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      10 months ago

      If you really want to drink the fruit juice you should just blend the fruit so that you are also getting all the pulp.

      Thanks for reminding me I need to go to my local taqueria and get an agua fresca o7

    • gregorum@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      this is why, while i love fruit smoothies, i also make sure to also add some granola and/or flax seed for extra fiber.

      helps me save on t-p, too!

      • Alto@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        If you like banana smoothies, peanut butter is another great way to round it out a bit more. And yknow, make it taste all the better because peanut butter fucks.

        • CoreOffset@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Freeze the banana and then blend the frozen banana with peanut butter and a little almond/oat/other plant milk and it’s like a milkshake without the dairy. Amazingly good!

          • Alto@kbin.social
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            10 months ago

            Growing up we’d blend just frozen bananas and a little bit of peanut butter together. Keep it going long enough and you’ll get real close to ice cream consistency with just those two things. Add a little drizzle of chocolate syrup and you’ve got a reasonably not unhealthy treat that’s damn good.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Haven’t they known this for decades now?

    Fruit juice is all the sugar in fruit but without any of the fiber.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Yeah, the US has an education problem. They kind of tell kids about this in school these days but for a bunch of years fruit was just plain sold as good for you. Kids parents were raised going oh don’t drink that Fanta here drink this apple juice. When they’re far too close to nutritional value for it to matter.

      It’s another thing they could put a label on might help a few people, it’s really effing hard to put a health food label on everything that’s not shit though

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I do wonder if there was some truth to that, though. When I was growing up, I do remember being told fruit juice is healthy, however there was also less weight problem and there was much less availability of fresh fruits

        • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Fruit is not just blanket good for you. Even with the fiber, it’s something you only want in moderation.

          Take an average medium apple. that’s 19 carbs. 16 grams of sugar. it has negligible potassium and a 7% of your RDA for Vitamin C.

          3g of dietary fiber isn’t even all that much. They’re mostly water.

          A medium banana, 23 grams of carbs. 3g of dietary fiber and 14g of sugar.

          potassium is a little better at 10%, C at 11%,

          1c grapes 24g sugar 1.5g fiber C at 19% (best yet)

          Fruits in the end are snacks. They’re high in natural sugars and lack sufficient dietary nutrition to many any significant change to your diet.

          Swapping a serving of snack food like pretzels or cheese-its for a piece of fruit isn’t a significant difference.

    • DrMango@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Yes. Just got back from the pediatrician and the take home handout said (again) not to feed your kid juice as there’s little to no nutritional value and a butt load of sugar

  • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    I have a very vivid memory of working with this girl who had a neck so large that it hung down like a bullfrog’s sack. I had lost some weight myself and we were discussing nutrition and my high water consumption, and I remember she looks at me very seriously and a little exasperated and says, “I’m eating healthier too. I stopped drinking so much pop and switched entirely to juice.

    People really do believe that pure fruit juice is good for your body. I think it’s largely due to the average person’s inability to understand caloric intake and how to decipher a nutrional chart.

    • Blackmist@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I just check the orange juice I buy. Just generic supermarket branded. 45 calories per 100ml. Coca Cola is 42.

      There are people are drinking several litres a day of this shit, on top of all the normal stuff they eat.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        There are people are drinking several litres a day of this shit, on top of all the normal stuff they eat.

        The study makes it clear that’s the problem. The article is trying to spin it into fruit juice being as bad as soda.

      • JoBo@feddit.uk
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        10 months ago

        In that it has more nutrients, yes. But once the fruit is blitzed, the sugars in it are just as available as any other highly processed sugar. It’s a lot worse than just eating the fruit it came from.

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Still, going from pop to juice is a step in the right direction. It’s an early step on a long journey, but a step nonetheless.

          One reason a lot of people fail to switch to a healthy diet is because they try to go straight from “whatever the hell I want to eat whenever I want to eat it” to “trendy diet full of food I hate only allowed 2 meals per day”.

          Switching from pop to juice is far from the last step, but it’s a good conscious decision if they’re committed to continuing.

          • JoBo@feddit.uk
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            10 months ago

            Unless they think it is healthier and have no intention of quitting it, of course.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            It’s also expensive as hell buying healthier products to find a balance you like and is healthy. For example I’m trying to move away from white rice. (I added it to literally everything when I was poor because it was cheap and halfway nutritious.) Now I’m finding out I don’t like Quinoa. So I’m going to try brown rice and whole wheat pasta. That particular exchange isn’t horribly expensive but I never would have risked not liking something when I was hard up for money.

            So people make this decision, check out blogs, try super expensive kale, find out they aren’t in the group that likes it, and give up because they don’t have the time or money to experiment properly.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Yeah, I tried brown rice as a similar step and it really doesn’t work. Maybe it’s my rice maker though, since brown rice from a restaurant is much better. At home, brown rice ends up too chewy, like it’s undercooked. I’ve tried other grains on and off but they tend to take much longer: I have a bag of Kamut I’ve never used because it’s 45-60 minutes instead of the 15-20 for rice

              • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                I really dislike a lot of the more fibrous alternatives to our diner carbohydrates. Some more expensive pasta brands can somehow ‘hide’ more fibre then others, but still. I do exclusively high-fibre bread now, for lunch and snack moments (i just make ham and cheese toasties whenever i feel like a snack, can’t really eat more than 2-4 slices of bread that way before I feel full). I can leave my other carbohydrates as is. (for reference: i use about 60g uncooked dry paste pp per dinner)

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Yes but one reason we get studies like this is fruit juice is the harm reduction for soda addicts. So BMI correlation is a poor measure.

          • JoBo@feddit.uk
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            10 months ago

            BMI is a shit measure and studies like this are impossible to do well. That does not mean fruit juice is magically sugar-free.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I agree. The message should be; use in moderation. The message in the article and what many people are taking away though is avoid like soda and cigarettes.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Y’all, the study clearly says it’s the calories. People see it as free calories. The article straight up lies about adults too. The study did not find the same link in adults.

    Relevant bit from the study-

    Among cohort studies in children, each additional serving per day of 100% fruit juice was associated with a 0.03 (95% CI, 0.01-0.05) higher BMI change. Among cohort studies in adults, studies that did not adjust for energy showed greater body weight gain (0.21 kg; 95% CI, 0.15-0.27 kg) than studies that did adjust for energy intake (−0.08 kg; 95% CI, −0.11 to −0.05 kg; P for meta-regression <.001). RCTs in adults found no significant association of assignment to 100% fruit juice with body weight but the CI was wide (MD, −0.53 kg; 95% CI, −1.55 to 0.48 kg).

    Give your kids one child serving a day and fiber from elsewhere. Also make sure they get physical activity in. Done. This isn’t Fruit Juice=Soda. Adults probably don’t get rated as hard because a pint glass of fruit juice is a lot less of their daily intake percentage wise.

  • MonkRome@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Everyone has been on this tangent for years, this isn’t exactly news. I think it’s worth noting that the problem isn’t really this simple. They concentrate the juice and pump it full of “juice” that is really just sugar. If you actually buy real pressed 100% blueberry juice, for example, instead of apple sugar flavored with blueberries, the sugar content is lower. And because you would never actually want to drink 100% blueberry juice because it wouldn’t taste how you are expecting, you would water it down. Suddenly you have a glass of juice with 5 grams of sugar instead of 30 grams and you are fine. Additionally, no matter the type of juice, it is nearly always over concentrated because they are trying to boost the sugar content. People should really be watering down any kind of store bought juice.

    No one is actually drinking “100% juice”, they are drinking a product that resembles the fruit of juice. These companies are not squeezing juice into a bottle, they are concentrating fruit sugars and adding them back into water. The problem is just as much with false advertising as anything. I’m not saying freshly squeezed juice is healthy, but it as sure as shit healthier than the fraud they are selling on the shelves. As with everything, the problem is money. Companies know they will sell more if they say it’s juice and then pump it full of extra concentrated fruit sugar.

    Edit: I wish more companies sold actual 100% real pressed fruit juice, I would buy it and water it down with soda water. I also wish they were more honest with their labeling about what they are actually doing. Not everything needs to be flawlessly healthy, but we could take steps in the right direction. You should only be able to label something as 100% juice if it actually is squeezed out of the fruit and put in the bottle with no interference and additional processing.

    • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Some of the best drinks I’ve ever had are pure fresh-squeezed juice.

      For example: pomegranate juice pressed by a street vendor? Amazing. Apples from the tree in my mom’s yard? Incredible when juiced. Freshly squeezed orange juice? Sign me up.

      Relatively few fruits make a juice that’s not good straight. Cranberry comes to mind as being too bitter. Lemon is a bit too acidic for most.

      Wyman’s 100% blueberry juice is 20g sugar per 250ml. Mott’s apple juice is 28g for 8 oz/240ml. So blueberry juice is about 2/3 the sugar of apple juice. It’s still plenty sweet.

      You don’t water blueberry juice down because it’s not sweet enough. You water it down because 8oz of Mott’s apple juice is $1.30 at Walmart, and 8oz of wymans’ blueberry juice is $7.30. Blends use apple juice because it’s cheap and mild, so you can layer other flavors on top.

      Juice isn’t bad for you because of the extra apple sugar. It’s bad because you removed all the fiber. Fiber promotes sateity.

      • MonkRome@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Upvoted because they are all good points. But I would say, that even these pure juice blends are absolutely concentrating the sugar, and probably using the sweetest varieties they can find. I would put money on it. I’ve pressed juice myself and it is never as sweet as what they sell you in the store, not even remotely close. The store juice is magnitudes more sweet because they are liars and frauds, full stop. Either way, we should all be watering it down. Unless you’re desensitizing your taste of sugar by eating pixy stix every day, most juices are too sweet anyway.

        • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          and probably using the sweetest varieties they can find.

          It’s probably a mix of using sweet varieties, picking at peak ripeness and quickly juicing them without much transportation.

          Think of the difference in if you made tomato juice with a standard supermarket tomato vs a local in-season farmstand tomato.

          Either way, we should all be watering it down.

          Honestly, juice just isn’t anywhere near as healthy as whole fruit.

          You can water it down if you want, but either way it should be a fairly rare treat.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          I believe I have bought those same brands. If I remember, they come in 32 Oz bottles and are extremely tart. I would water them down heavily and give them to my daughter and she was able to tolerate it.

  • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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    10 months ago

    I see so many things blamed for weight gain, but nobody ever seems to talk about the fact that nearly everyone is staying inside more. Kids don’t go outside to play like they used to. They play video games and watch YouTube instead of riding bikes and climbing trees. Adults too. The human race is becoming increasingly sedentary. The calories catch up way quicker if you aren’t doing anything to burn them. And I’m not pointing fingers here. I do it too.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Have you seen the outside they built?

      Kids aren’t allowed to play outside anymore anywhere but the country.

      The trees have been cut down and replaced with tiny puffs of artificial grass. There are no yards, it’s all just streets to play in. And the streets are now blasted through at 30mph.

      Adults call the cops on children outside just anywhere but their own front lawn. There is nowhere where it is free to be, and kids aren’t exactly flush with cash.

      • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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        10 months ago

        I left the city years ago. My kid has all the outdoors he could want and I about have to twist his arm to get him off red dead.

        • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Same. But as someone who lived in the city. I spoke to the cops more than my drug addicted cousin.

          ‘You can’t skateboard here’. 'You’re loitering, do you want me to arrest you? ’ 'You can’t ride your bike here… ’

          Motherfucker where can I do any of this without you bothering me? There aren’t any parks? So where exactly do you want us to go?

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        10 months ago

        I live in a housing development without a tree in sight. There were kids out running around all over the place all summer long. Never saw anyone complaining about it either.

    • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Easy to claim everyone is staying inside if you’re inside not seeing it or when it’s either extreme freezing or boiling…but I just saw a plethora of children sledding yesterday after a snowstorm. I just came back from a Christmas vacation with a large group of nieces/nephews skating, swimming, building snowmen, snowshoeing, sleigh rides and skiing. There was a new activity to do every day. Not one looked at their phone(not even adults) and the total of tv screen time was maybe a two hours out of their day waiting between eating meals together or physically playing together or if the weather did not permit a lot of outdoor activity. Upon which we had a lot of board games to play with each other. The kids do not do well with no activity and tend to get moody and hard to deal with so the parents do a lot to try to expend their extra energy. Having kids is a lot of work. Especially if some of the kids are on a particular spectrum in which we had two out of the group.

      on one hand it’s probably the household/family type and I have no doubt there are quite a few families that definitely do need to give their head a shake but it’s not as ubiquitous and pervasive as you’re suggesting. Most parents I’ve seen biggest complaint is ‘I’m trying to tire them out.’ seems to be the catch phrase of the decade right now.

      • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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        10 months ago

        Sounds like those parents don’t want to participate. Sometimes you have to go outside with them. I try, but red dead looks just like outside to a 12 year old

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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          those parents don’t want to participate

          Knock it off. Now you’re being a bad actor as My post was literally about how the parents went and did all these things with their kids. Now you’re just ignoring what was actually said and hardrailing your point into everyone else’s story I see. Welcome to my block list.

  • FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I saw Hank Green talk about this not so long ago. He says he hates how juice is marketed as a ‘healthy’ option, when in reality, it’s just like flat soda.

    Like in an average fruit, there is probably less than a glass of juice. We evolved to eat fruit but not to constantly consume copious amounts of the juice. It’s too much sugar and your body Will be worse off for it if you subject it to that amount of sugar for too long.

    People should just drink water ffs.

    A small glass of juice occasionally maybe if you need it for the anti oxidents or vitamins etc. But not daily and certainly not a huge amount of it.

    • scottywh@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      My wife and I occasionally make fresh squeezed orange juice at home… It takes us at least a dozen large oranges to get THREE - 10 to 12 ounce glasses of juice.

      It probably takes more oranges than that really but it’s been a while since we did it so I can’t remember for sure.

  • Pulptastic@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    2010 called, they said “duh”

    This is why my kids don’t get juice or soda other than special occasions. They get full fat milk twice a day and water all day long.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The article doesn’t accurately represent the study. The harm isn’t in any amount of fruit juice like it is with corn syrup and fake sugars, it’s in multiple servings of fruit juice to children per day. The operative part from the study here -

      Among cohort studies in children, each additional serving per day of 100% fruit juice was associated with a 0.03 (95% CI, 0.01-0.05) higher BMI change. Among cohort studies in adults, studies that did not adjust for energy showed greater body weight gain (0.21 kg; 95% CI, 0.15-0.27 kg) than studies that did adjust for energy intake (−0.08 kg; 95% CI, −0.11 to −0.05 kg; P for meta-regression <.001). RCTs in adults found no significant association of assignment to 100% fruit juice with body weight but the CI was wide (MD, −0.53 kg; 95% CI, −1.55 to 0.48 kg).

      That said. As long as they’re getting actual fruit, it’s not like fruit juice is a requirement.

  • CaptainProton@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Carbs are carbs, sugar is sugar, high glycemic sugars need somewhere to go quickly

    I have a relative, a PhD no less (albeit in English), who “only eat natural organic GMO-free” and will absolutely not accept that fruits are sweet because of sugar and count against you like any other sugar

    • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      Well, while it is a type of sugar that makes fruits sweet, it in fact does get processed differently in your body. Fructose, among other things, can’t be stored in muscles. Your body also doesn’t need to provide Insulin to process it.

      When comparing something sweetened with Fructose and something sweetened with Saccharose, the sweet from Fructose has less negative health impacts.

      Unless I misunderstood what you mean with “count against you” (I am not a native English speaker).

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        the sweet from Fructose has less negative health impacts.

        I wouldn’t call fatty liver not a negative health impact. In particular Type II diabetes is reversible, a sufficiently fucked-up liver is not.

        • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          That’s why I did not wrote “a fat liver is not a negative health impact”.

          I wrote Fructose has less negative health impacts. This means when you count health impacts there are less (= a smaller number) for Fructose.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            (= a smaller number)

            Are you seriously suggesting “health impact” is a thing measured by “quantity of diagnoses that apply”. I have 1000 ingrown hairs, another person has one fatty liver. Which of us is more fucked?

            • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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              10 months ago

              Health impacts.

              I feel like you try to derail the conversation and move goal posts to “be right”.

              Fruits and vegetables contain Fructose, Fructose has a smaller number of negative health impacts than Saccharose and Fructose is metabolized differently in our body than other sugars.

              The intravenous administration or other consumption of very high doses of Fructose, often in obese and/or diabetic patients in studies, has been identified as a potential risk factor for fatty liver.

              That doesn’t mean eating fruits and vegetables increases the risks for a fatty liver. It also doesn’t mean Fructose and Saccharose are the same.

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                10 months ago

                Saccharose is half fructose, half glucose. Eat enough of it and the impact on the liver is just as bad as that of fructose which is definitely worse than overeating on more or less pure glucose in the form of, among other things, starch. The body overall is way better at dealing with glucose as pretty much everything that needs energy can use it directly, while fructose first needs to be processed in the liver, which has a much more limited capacity. Ingesting fructose (also in the form of saccarose) makes sure that the liver’s glycogen stores are stock-full, which means that weight loss is impossible as that storage gets used up before adipose tissue gets involved.

                The intravenous administration or other consumption of very high doses of Fructose, often in obese and/or diabetic patients in studies, has been identified as a potential risk factor for fatty liver.

                Dietary consumption of high-fructose corn syrup alone is a risk factor for fatty liver, get out of here with “intravenous” and “very high dose” and “in obese patients”. Non-alcoholic fatty liver is a fucking epidemic.

        • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          No it is not false. You just misunderstood what I wrote or what is written in the paper.

          I explain to you: We do not need to produce Insulin to metabolise Fructose. Because Fructose can enter cells without it. The Insulin produced in response to a high dose of intravenously administered Fructose (like in the 1980 study you posted) never gets active in the cells, so to speak.

          The potential negative health effects of that are discussed in several articles, more recent ones at well. But this effect is only relevant for the high direct doses of these studies design, which also often combine it with other sugars. It’s not relevant for the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        10 months ago

        Sure, if you’re otherwise healthy, but the point is don’t drink a glass of sugar water thinking it’s healthy because fruits or vitamins or some bullshit, because it’s not, and you probably don’t need the extra calories.

        Unless you do, and then you probably already know your shit anyways.

            • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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              10 months ago

              My guy, if you are eating 2000-3000 calories a day, you’re not actually going to be in a deficit, especially in a sedentary line of work like IT. Calories ARE the reason you gained weight, and you likely overestimated the number of calories you were consuming when you were eating a high-protein diet.

              Calories are calories. The problem with high-carb foods is the blood sugar spikes they can cause if they are simple carbs and not whole ones like what you’re supposed to be eating. You say you were eating Ramen packs; those things are filled with MSG and other chemicals that trick you into eating more. The blood sugar spikes do that to you, too. It’s partly why simple carbs are so dangerous.

              Had you eaten whole grains like oatmeal and brown rice, which would have been cheaper anyway, that would not have happened to you. You’re supposed to eat whole carbs with the fiber and germ still in it, like whole wheat, rye or sourdough bread; brown rice; whole wheat or certain gluten-free alternate noodles that aren’t wholly processed, sweet potatoes, stuff like that.

              The nuance here doesn’t actually favor your position. I lost 30 pounds when I switched to a Mediterranean style diet, which requires lots of carbs, only in the whole grain variety, and yet I eat cheaper and healthier than resorting to Ramen packs. 🤦

              Good grief. It’s no wonder you gained weight and wrongly attributed the target. Didn’t anyone tell you you’re supposed to eat complex carbs and not simple ones? I am not trying to be a dick, I am being wholly fuckin’ serious.

      • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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        10 months ago

        I am interested how someone is supposed to live a healthy life without fruits and vegetables. Sure, you do spare the calories that stem from the Fructose, I guess.

        • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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          10 months ago

          They don’t. Keto is the most unhealthy of all alternative diets partly for that reason.

          Your brain needs carbs. Without carbs, your brain rots. And your liver gets damaged.

          That being said, simple carbs like table sugar, HCFS, etc. are to be avoided because they spike your blood sugar and cause inflammation which ages your body. The sugars you get from fruits and veggies are not table sugar, they’re fructose and other kinds, and they’re mixed in with the fiber of the fruit so you don’t get the blood sugar spike when you eat them.

          Eating below the number of calories you burn will make you lose weight regardless of where those calories are from.

          People don’t get that because they don’t bother to do the research, that’s all.

          • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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            10 months ago

            Yeah, I know… I’ve given up at that front with some of the comments here… It’s unfortunate, but I feel the whole issue with many topics in nutrition is that it’s unreasonable to expect for most people to read up on organic chemistry and metabolism lol And even if you have some understanding, much is still far from understood well.

            So most people end up with a superficial (mis)understanding. And Fruits, Corn Syrup, fresh juice, “100 % juice but actually it’s concentrate” get all tossed together in one bag because omg Fructose.

            I’ve certainly seen an increase in people on- and offline claiming fruits are essentially death cookies. Sometimes even expanding that to peas etc. because they realised Fructose is in them.

  • rayyy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Our entire food industry is dedicated to high carb foods that generate more profits. Many, many people cannot handle a high carb diet and wind up fat, or sick. A much lower carb diet, including healthy fats and lots of fiber, lessens obesity, heart problem and diabetes. Been there, done that.

    • Jeremyward@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      My GF is type 1 diabetic so I have to be aware all the time of how much carbs are in things. It’s actually insane. A glass of OJ has as much carbs and a can of soda for instance. A glass of wine has ~100-120 calories. Breakfast cereal is essential just carbs and sugar.

      • Asafum@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Breakfast cereal has evolved into a “new” market for candy makers… Reese’s cereal?? Just brand it as breakfast and people somehow think they’re not feeding their kids candy for breakfast… I used to buy that kind of stuff for a dessert snack lol

      • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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        10 months ago

        Yeah juice is pure fast acting carbs. It has the same effect on my blood sugar as eating sugar lol

        Also sugar is a carb.

    • havokdj@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Carbs are not bad for you, obscene amounts of sugar is. Yes you shouldn’t just eat nothing but carbohydrates, but your body needs carbohydrates to fuel the muscles. Around 100 grams a day is considered the minimum you need to eat typically.

    • Floey@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Not all carbs are the same. Fruit juice is simple sugars with little to no fiber.

  • Omega@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Hasn’t this been well known for a couple decades now? Or is this just confirmation of that?

    • yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      Replace fruit juice with soda in the title and no doubt it’s a slam dunk, but I personally didn’t realize how much sugar’s in fruit drinks until I entered it into a calorie tracker. I’m guessing fruit juice is slightly less bad compared to soda, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn most people are oblivious to how “not good” fruit juice is for them. Probably some, “Well, fruit is good for me, so fruit juice must be okay, too.”

      • Duranie@literature.cafe
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        10 months ago

        This has been a pet peeve of mine for years, but I’ve never voiced it because I didn’t feel like taking on the “you’re an idiot” stares.

        But seriously, I drink a diet soda and I’m supposed to feel shitty because “soda is bad” while someone chugs a sugary glass of juice and that’s supposed to be healthier? Can I compromise and drink a Fresca? Lol

        • lobo@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          a drink being nutritious is not the same as being healthy

          100% juice is all natural stuff that you body is used to procesing for milions of years, but yeah you’re gonna get fat if you chug it like there no tomorrow

          soda is some random shit thrown together, articifial sweetners, coloring etc.

        • petrol_sniff_king
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          10 months ago

          People treating “healthy” like an essential quality something either does or does not have has irritated me for decades.

          For example, one lens of “health” is “non-toxic.” If you know, toxicity requires a quantity. Nobody ever talks about quantity, I swear to god.

          People at the restaurant I used to work in would look me dead in the eyes and say “oHh, eating healthy today, hUH?” over a salad I’d loaded with bacon, cheese and ranch. There wasn’t a single time I didn’t just flatly answer “Is it?”

  • Kairos@lemmy.today
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    10 months ago

    Why specifically 100% fruit juice?

    Edit: I learned to read. It’s because of the no added sugar.

    Added sugar is a problem when it’s added to things that don’t need it. The best way to mitigate this isn’t with a sugar tax, but to tax per calorie in the finished food for any amount of added sugar.