Lancet Article Questions Fruit Juice Consumption

A recent article published in The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology has questioned current nutritional guidelines that permit the substitution of fruit juice for one daily fruit serving, arguing that some fruit juices contain as many calories as other sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Jason Gill and Naveed Sattar, “Fruit juice: just another sugary drink?,” The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology, February 2014. After surveying approximately 2,000 adults “to assess knowledge of sugar content of a range of SSBs, fruit juices, and smoothies,” researchers with the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences reported that participants underestimated the sugar content of fruit juices and smoothies by 48 percent on average while overestimating the sugar content of carbonated drinks by 12 percent on average.

The article suggests that many people perceive fruit juices and smoothies to be “low-sugar alternatives” to soda, even though the micronutrient content of these beverages “might not be sufficient to offset the adverse metabolic consequences of excessive fruit juice consumption.” It also warns that allowing fruit juice to serve as a fruit equivalent “is probably counterproductive because it fuels the perception that drinking fruit juice is good for health, and thus need not be subject to the limits that many individuals impose on themselves for consumption of less healthy foods.”

“Accordingly, we suggest that better labeling of fruit juice containers is needed, to include explicit recommendations on maximum recommended daily intake,” conclude the authors. “A further, more radical suggestion would be to re-examine whether any fruit intake in the form of juices should be permissible within guidelines for daily fruit and vegetable intake… A fruit juice tax is probably not warranted; however, in the broader context of public health policy, it is important that debate about SSB reduction should include fruit juice.”

Issue 513