1. The recent revelation of Arsenic in Apple Juice has parents
concerned and frustrated. Concerned because children are
the single biggest consumers of juice; Frustrated because
they think juice is 100% healthy.
2. I'm not going to debate whether I think the study from Dr.
Oz is legitimate or not, as it probably is pretty accurate. I
think Juice is dangerously misunderstood by 99.9% of the
population.
3. Juice is not a health food! Kids should not be drinking juice
everyday, throughout the day. The juice from fruit is
actually the bad part of the fruit; it's the fruit minus all the
fiber, and micronutrients. It's pure fructose.
4. Only your liver can metabolize fructose so let me take you
on a journey through your liver when you consume juice.
Your body first has to give up phosphates to start
metabolizing the fructose making the waste product Uric
Acid (causes gout) which blocks the enzymes from making
Nitric Oxide (keeps your blood pressure low), when you
can't make nitric oxide your blood pressure goes up. Nova
Lipogenesis gets activated and now you get fat. When you
consume fructose you are consuming fat. Fructose
increases inflammation in the liver by initiating an enzyme
that is truly and appropriately named "Junk 1." Free fatty
acids form and populate muscles. Some fat will not make
it out of your liver, and you wind up with fatty liver, Non-
Alcoholic Liver Disease.
5. Your pancreas starts working harder generating more
insulin because your liver becomes insulin resistant. The
more insulin your pancreas makes the higher your blood
pressure goes and it also generates more fat. The higher
your insulin goes your brain can't see it's leptin (the thing
that tells your brain you are full) and you keep consuming
calories because your body thinks it's starving.
6. Is it any wonder why the obesity epidemic is growing
fastest in 2-5 year olds? That young children are being
diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, fatty
liver disease, heart disease, insulin resistance,
dyslipidemia, and high cholesterol? ALL of these things
happen with chronic fructose exposure.
7. One thing you can do as a parent to give your kids the best
chance at having a healthy life is to limit all beverage
consumption to plain water, and milk. It's probably the
single most important thing you can do. Offer fresh fruits
and veggies. Fructose is absorbed differently if consumed
in its natural whole fruit form as the fiber attached helps
slow absorption.
