Can you name a fruit whose processed juice is healthier than just eating the fruit itself?
The Fruit Whose Juice Is Healthier
4.9/5 - (52 votes)
Can you name a fruit whose processed juice is healthier than just eating the fruit itself?
Here’s the VCEAC of fruits, and their juice. The black bars are the fruit; the white bars are the juice. VCEAC stands for vitamin C equivalent antioxidant capacity.
So, for example, even though apples don’t actually contain 150mg of vitamin C itself, they have other antioxidants that add up to the equivalent of that much antioxidant power. As you can see, across the board, as you go from fruit to juice, the antioxidant capacity is slashed. In fact, the only reason the grape juice was even that high is because it happened to have extra vitamin C added to it—so it kind of cheated.
But wait a second; what is this? A fruit’s juice that has significantly more antioxidants, and even greater phytonutrient availability? And the answer is: tomato juice. About twice the antioxidant power of tomatoes, and five times the phytonutrient lycopene.
And no, it was not a trick question. You may use it as a vegetable, but it is a fruit, because it’s got seeds. Don’t tell that to the Supreme Court, though, who, having nothing better to do, ruled in 1893 that tomatoes were vegetables—though they were only a batch of Justices away from those who ruled Mr. Scott was not a citizen, so I wouldn’t listen to them.
Arkansas decided to have it both ways, declaring tomatoes both the official state fruit, and the official state vegetable.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Floegel A, Kim DO, Chung SJ, Song WO, Fernandez ML, Bruno RS, Koo SI, Chun OK. Development and validation of an algorithm to establish a total antioxidant capacity database of the US diet. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2010 Sep;61(6):600-23.
- Burton-Freeman B. Tomato Consumption and Health: Emerging Benefits. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2011 Mar/Apr:Vol. 5 no. 2:182-191.
Images thanks to ComùnicaTI via Flickr, and Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis via Wikimedia. Commons.
Can you name a fruit whose processed juice is healthier than just eating the fruit itself?
Here’s the VCEAC of fruits, and their juice. The black bars are the fruit; the white bars are the juice. VCEAC stands for vitamin C equivalent antioxidant capacity.
So, for example, even though apples don’t actually contain 150mg of vitamin C itself, they have other antioxidants that add up to the equivalent of that much antioxidant power. As you can see, across the board, as you go from fruit to juice, the antioxidant capacity is slashed. In fact, the only reason the grape juice was even that high is because it happened to have extra vitamin C added to it—so it kind of cheated.
But wait a second; what is this? A fruit’s juice that has significantly more antioxidants, and even greater phytonutrient availability? And the answer is: tomato juice. About twice the antioxidant power of tomatoes, and five times the phytonutrient lycopene.
And no, it was not a trick question. You may use it as a vegetable, but it is a fruit, because it’s got seeds. Don’t tell that to the Supreme Court, though, who, having nothing better to do, ruled in 1893 that tomatoes were vegetables—though they were only a batch of Justices away from those who ruled Mr. Scott was not a citizen, so I wouldn’t listen to them.
Arkansas decided to have it both ways, declaring tomatoes both the official state fruit, and the official state vegetable.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Floegel A, Kim DO, Chung SJ, Song WO, Fernandez ML, Bruno RS, Koo SI, Chun OK. Development and validation of an algorithm to establish a total antioxidant capacity database of the US diet. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2010 Sep;61(6):600-23.
- Burton-Freeman B. Tomato Consumption and Health: Emerging Benefits. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2011 Mar/Apr:Vol. 5 no. 2:182-191.
Images thanks to ComùnicaTI via Flickr, and Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis via Wikimedia. Commons.
Republishing "The Fruit Whose Juice Is Healthier"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
The Fruit Whose Juice Is Healthier
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
In general, though, whole foods are best. See my other videos on processed foods. For more on the bioavailability of phytonutrients, check out my videos Raw Food Nutrient Absorption, and Raw Food Diet Myths. Everything on this website is free!
For more context, be sure to check out my associated blog posts: Eating Green to Prevent Cancer; Apple Peels Turn On Anticancer Genes; and The Science on Açaí Berries.
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to our free newsletter. With your subscription, you'll also get notifications for just-released blogs and videos. Check out our information page about our translated resources.
Previous Video
Next Video
