A study conducted in the United States brings good news and, in the fight to fight obesity and overweight children have managed to reduce the consumption of sugary soft drinks in children. The problem is that many children seem allergic to water, because instead of replacing one thing with another, which is the most healthy and reasonable, they have changed soft drinks for juice and for that matter it is the same.
It is true that by boat it soon seems healthier to drink juice than soda. Some come from fruits and others are not known. Some carry added sugar or sweeteners and gas and the others the same fruit sugars. Still, the conclusion of the study says it all: children still drink too much fruit juice.
Data about the study
Researchers of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital They studied the customs of children between the ages of 2 and 11 in California to learn how customs had changed, in terms of consumption of 100% natural fruit juice and soft drinks, of the population between 2003 and 2009.
They saw that in children aged 2 to 5 years, the consumption of soft drinks had dropped from 40% to 16% and that in children aged 6 to 11, the decline ranged from 54% to 33% in 2009. At the time of assessing the consumption of fruit juice, they saw that in children aged 2 to 5 years the consumption of two or more glasses of fruit juice per day had decreased in white children, but that there were increased in those of Latin origin. In those aged 6 to 11, the consumption of two or more glasses of fruit juice remained stable in white children and increased in Latino and African-American children.
Too much juice, no doubt
It is true that it is good news that soda consumption decreases, but 100% natural fruit juice, even when it carries the "no added sugars" notice, It contains almost as much sugar as a can of soda, as the study authors explain.
The reason is that fruit is a food with many natural sugars. Yes, they have vitamins and other properties, but also sugar, and it is not the same to eat two or three pieces of fruit a day than to consume two to three glasses of juice a day for an obvious question of quantity. Several pieces of fruit are necessary to make a glass of juice. Well, when you drink a glass of juice made with, let's put two to three oranges, are you consuming the sugar from those two or three oranges. Multiply that glass by three a day and you already have the result: it is equivalent to having 6 to 9 fruits per day. No child would eat that based on bites.
So much sugar makes no sense and so many calories are far from beneficial. Being calories that come especially from the sugar in the fruit are calories with little content (almost empty), for not providing many other nutrients that other foods provide, or even the same fruit when we eat it in bites. In addition, drinking fruit juice increases the risk of tooth decay, promotes nutritional imbalances, because juices take away the hunger that would make children eat more important things and increases the risk of diabetes.
How much juice is recommended
The juice by itself is not bad. Nothing happens to drink some fruit juice, but you have to limit it. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends taking a maximum of 180 ml of fruit juice per day for children under six years Y a maximum of 360 ml per day for those over six. As you see, we talk about maximum and not of recommended amount or ideal minimum.
The advisable thing is that the children eat fruit and that when they are thirsty they drink water. As simple as that, eat the fruit as it comes from the tree, which could be considered a relatively low-calorie food, and water as it comes out of the tap, or from the bottle. The moment the fruit becomes juice, it becomes a liquid that is consumed very easily and that contains many more calories than fruit and, of course, that water.
