Justification behind why you want to choose fresh juice.

By Elloise-Beth Schmidt


Companies who create bottled fruit juices are legally required to make a distinction between a fruit drink and a fruit juice. Bottled products named with blend, drink or beverage usually contain ten percent juice or less. These are flavored sugar water. Juice and cider products must contain 100% actual orange juice.

Nearly all of the bottled or store bought juices are pasteurized. Pasteurization is a process designed to kill harmful pathogens and bacteria. This removes ninety percent of undesirable organisms and makes products safe for storage during transportation. The common methods of pasteurization involve apply heat to the juice.

The bad news is many beneficial nutrients and vitamins are also eliminated. According to General Bacteriology 12th edition, vitamin C is reduced by half during the process. He claims that infants fed solely on pasteurized milk will develop a deficiency. Certified Nutritional Consultant Lori Lopinski in an article titled Milk: It Does a Body Good claims that fifty percent of vitamin C is lost during milk pasteurization. She goes on to say that other nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E are also destroyed. The vitamin C loss is more significant since it is water soluble while the others are fat soluble.

Vitamin loss during pasteurization is a source of argument. Some say very little vitamins are lost, while others claim significant loss. One thing you can do is see if your particular juice is adding vitamin C. The ingredients will include ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C. If it is there, it has been artificially added. The manufacturer will do this to replace losses so that the product can meet the vitamin C claims it makes.

It is possible to purchase juice that has not been pasteurized. The west coast company Odwalla used to sell unpasteurized juice prior to 1996. In 1996 apples used in the juice were responsible for a E coli contamination. They now pasteurize their juices. Odwalla was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in 2001. In addition, the US FDA requires that manufacturers label pasteurized products. You can determine if a product has potentially harmful elements by looking for it.

Exposure to oxygen also destroys vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is a potent antioxidant. In other words it oxides easily. Oxidation is a term used when substances react with oxygen to form stable compounds. Antioxidants work by reacting with oxygen before it can oxidize other compounds. Oxygen is a free radical and can potentially damage cells in the body. Antioxidants protect tissues by binding with the free radicals first and forming harmless inert compounds. So ascorbic acid will react with air.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment