Dr. Becky Maes - Is It Bad For You? Approved by Dr. Becky Maes

Is Naked Juice Bad For You?


Grade

C-


Short answer

Naked Juice isn't terrible for you, but it's certainly worse than eating whole fruits. This is principally because it's loaded with sugar and has little fiber.

Grade

C-

Recommended Alternative


Long answer

Naked Juice has a lot of sugar. There's about 32 grams in a serving and two servings in a bottle - together, that's more than two and half times the sugar you need in a day. Sugar content varies between different kinds of Naked Juice - as a general guideline, fruit varieties have more sugar than those made from veggies.

Sugar rots your teeth, increases your risk of diabetes, and can elevate your levels of bad cholesterol. The sugar in Naked Juice is a variety called fructose. Your body stores more calories from fructose as fat than it does with sugars like glucose. Because Naked Juice has so much fructose, it could frustrate your efforts if you're trying to maintain or lose weight.

Whole fruits have a much higher fiber content than juices or smoothies do. That's important - fiber helps digestion, is good for the bowel, and may help to regulate blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It also slows down the rate at which your body absorbs sugar; whole fruits, like Naked Juice, are loaded with sugar, but their high fiber impact blunts the negative health effects of their high sugar content.

Naked Juice has little natural fiber, but it does include some synthetic fibers, including fructooligosaccharides, fibersol-2, and inulin. Their parent company Pepsi was successfully sued for including these ingredients while marketing the product as "100% natural."

It’s also worth noting that sugar content of whole fruits is mitigated because eating them takes more time than drinking them in a smoothie. A bottle of Mighty Mango Naked Juice has 1 and 1/4 mangos, half an orange, 1 and 3/4 apples, and 1/3 of a banana. It'd take significantly longer to eat these products whole, which would similarly slow down the rate at which your body would absorb their sugar.

When you drink Naked Juice, your body  is quickly hit with a lot of sugar. In response, it quickly produces insulin and seeks to store most of the sugar as fat. In the long-term, this can lead to problems like diabetes and obesity. In the short-term, elevated levels of sugar in the blood can wreak havoc on your mood - you'll get a dramatic high followed by a crash.

Naked Juice isn't made from certified organic products, so there's a chance that it could include traces of pesticides or herbicides. Your mileage will vary depending on what was used to grow the ingredients in question, but ingesting too much herbicides or pesticides is probably bad for you. They can increase your chance of contracting various health problems, including different cancers and hormonal disorders.


Possible short-term side effects

  • blood sugar spike
  • sugar high followed by crash

Possible long-term side effects

  • diabetes
  • cavities
  • weight gain, obesity
  • increased cholesterol

Ingredients to be aware of

  • sugar
  • traces of herbicides and pesticides

Benefits

  • source of various vitamins and minerals

Our Wellness Pick (what is this?)

Orgain Protein Shake

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  • Meal replacement option
  • 20 vitamins & minerals
  • Gluten and soy-free
  • Creamy chocolate flavor
Learn More!



Thank you for your feedback!

Written by Sean McNulty
Published on: 09-18-2016
Last updated: 12-15-2023

Thank you for your feedback!

Written by Sean McNulty
Published on: 09-18-2016
Last updated: 12-15-2023




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