Dr. Andrea Middleton - Is It Bad For You? Approved by Dr. Andrea Middleton

Is Juicing Bad For You?


Grade

B-


Short answer

In moderation and when supplemental to a regular healthy diet, juicing can be a beneficial way to add fruits and vegetables to your diet.

Grade

B-


Long answer

There are various reasons people juice their vegetables and fruit such as detoxing the body and simply including more of them in their day to day diet. Many people find it difficult to get their 4 servings each of fruit and vegetables in each day, but juicing greatly cuts down the volume of these foods into just 1-2 glasses of juice goodness. That’s amazing!

Including these foods in your diet every day is a great way to get your necessary vitamins and minerals. Whole fruit consumed in its natural state also provides a ton a fiber, while juicing removes nearly 90% of the fiber. Fiber is great for your gut and bowel health, helps in lowering your cholesterol levels, controlling blood sugar level and helps in maintain a healthy weight. But, did you know fiber is also commonly bound to antioxidants in foods? While some of these antioxidants pass into the juice, many are lost during the juicing process. For those juicing for the purpose of cleansing toxins from the body, losing these 2 types of nutrients, fiber and antioxidants, makes this a bit difficult. Antioxidants are generally responsible for detoxifying the liver by creating glutathione to neutralize free radicals. Fiber binds to toxins in the gut to eliminate them from the body.

Doing a juicing cleanse is safe for a few days but not many, as it typically gives you less than 1,000 calories for the day and provides no protein or fats. For this reason, juicing is not a sufficient regular meal replacement. Remember, you must eat (healthy) fats to burn (bad) fats. Having fats in your diet also makes it possible for your body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which support the health of blood, bones, skin and eyes. A study by Wojcicki and Heyman in 2012 found that long-term consumption of 100% fruit juices can increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, liver damage and obesity. This can largely be associated with the fructose sugar of the fruit juice without a balance of fiber which can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.


Possible short-term side effects

  • decreased absorption of fat-soluble vitamins

Possible long-term side effects

  • diabetes metabolic syndrome
  • liver damage
  • obesity

Ingredients to be aware of

  • excess amounts of fructose


Benefits

  • supplies vitamins and minerals
  • helps meet the recommended serving sizes of fruits and veggies



Thank you for your feedback!

Written by Kristin Brown, DC, MS
Published on: 08-08-2016
Last updated: 12-10-2016

Thank you for your feedback!

Written by Kristin Brown, DC, MS
Published on: 08-08-2016
Last updated: 12-10-2016




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