Goodness of Juice
How much is too much?
You’ve heard these words before but it’s worth saying them again. Moderation is the key.
We know our bodies love fruit for the good things it gives us, like vitamins and fibre. So it goes that juice can be a healthy part of a balanced diet and active lifestyle and an excellent complement to whole fruits.
There are no Australian guidelines that say how much juice you should drink each day. However, in general, nutritionists agree that your fruit allowance should not come solely from juice, as kilojoule for kilojoule, fruit juice can be consumed more quickly than whole fruit. So mix your fruits – juice and whole.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults, fruit juice can be a useful source of vitamin C, potassium, folate and fluid, plus it adds variety to our diet. Some juices also supply other valuable nutrients, such as beta carotene and naturally occurring phytonutrients. (link to antioxidant information below).
Antioxidants
Ever heard of free radicals? They’re nasty little pieces of work generated by our own bodies that can damage body proteins, DNA and cells. Antioxidants are our anti-free radical crusaders, protecting our cells from damage by absorbing these nasty rads.
Our body generates its own antioxidants, but also gets them from foods, such as fruits, juice, vegetables, nuts, cocoa and tea. Generally, a dead give-away to antioxidant-rich foods is their colour - usually strong and bright. Think orange, red, purples, greens, blue – many of the colours inside our Spring Valley bottles.
All Spring Valley Juices contain 100% of the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) of Vitamin C, while our Tropical Wake-Up Juice also contains 100% of (RDI) of Vitamin A. A 500ml bottle of Spring Valley Juicy Ice Tea contains a minimum of 78mg of polyphenols.
The final juicy word
Although, there’s good evidence for the health benefits of fresh fruit, we admit juice research is still pretty much in its infancy.
The one thing we do know the experts agree on is that we should all include 2 serves of fruit and 5 of vegetables in our diet every day. See Go for 2 & 5™ for more info. www.gofor2and5.com.au
Links
The Beverage Guidance Panel: http://www.beverageguidancepanel.org
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