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Fruit Juice: Kids' way to healthier diets
kids who drink fruit juice had healthier overall diets. They consume more total fruits, fibre and key nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and folate than the ones who're non-juice consumers.
A recent analysis of government data states that kids who drink fruit juice had healthier overall diets. They consume more total fruits, fibre and key nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and folate than the ones who're non-juice consumers.
According to the researchers who examined well-established data from the government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the group of 100 per cent juice consumers also had equal or lower bodyweights and body mass indexes (BMI) than the non-juice consumers, adding to the scientific evidence which shows that 100 percent juices play a vital role in a healthy diet and have no link to obesity in kids.
Researcher Victor Fulgoni, Ph.D., examined the impact of 100 percent juice in children's diets on bodyweight and BMI among more than 7,500 children ages 2-18.
This analysis of the most recent NHANES database (1999-2002), combined with growth chart data from the Centre for Disease Control and Promotion (CDC), found that juice consumers had significantly lower z-scores for body mass index for their age than non-juice consumers.
The study revealed that while there were no specific differences in BMI between the juice consumers and non-juice consumers for children aged 2-11, there were differences in children aged 12-18 years.
The juice consumers had significantly lower BMIs than those who drank no juice at all. The government data analysis also demonstrates that children who drank 100 per cent juice had a total fruit intake that was three times higher than non-juice consumers.
"These findings are consistent with many other research studies that have found no association between consumption of 100 percent juice and obesity," said Fulgoni.
