Posted on 11/11/2009 7:11:27 AM PST by Still Thinking
America’s self-anointed food police have a new punching bag in their obesity crusade: fruit juice. We’re not making this up. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that a growing number of dietary do-gooders are now pointing their fingers at juice as a culprit for fattening waistlines:
The inconvenient truth, many experts say, is that 100% fruit juice poses the same obesity-related health risks as Coke, Pepsi and other widely vilified beverages. … [I]t's time juice lost its wholesome image, these experts say.
"It's pretty much the same as sugar water," said Dr. Charles Billington, an appetite researcher at the University of Minnesota. In the modern diet, "there's no need for any juice at all."
Is this new target in the obesity blame game any more legitimate than activists’ perennial demonization of soda? Nope. As the Times notes, a 2008 review of 21 studies found that 15—over two-thirds—did not support the theoretical link between juice and weight gain. But dietary activists still single out soda despite a wealth of academic research finding that soda isn’t a unique cause of obesity, so don’t expect the grape juice naysayers to be quieted in the face of actual evidence.
It’s worth noting that “Twinkie tax” creator Kelly Brownell isn’t jumping on the opportunity to call for a government War on Fruit Juice. According to the Times, Brownell is “loath to provoke the tens of millions of Americans who consider their morning juice sacrosanct.” Read: Brownell won’t target fruit juice yet, but after fruit juice’s public image is dragged through the mud and turned into “the new tobacco,” all bets are off. For now, Brownell is sticking to his soda tax song-and-dance out of purely political considerations, not ideological ones.
We have to ask: What’s next? Raisin rations? Warning labels on avocados? Red-light / green-light stickers in the produce aisle? Paging Alex Padilla…
I like a glass of cheap Merlot at night. Goes good with a couple of crackers and some cheese.
Food Lion has some Blue’s Corner (CA) on sale for $3.99 a bottle. Not much more expensive than OJ.
Yes, fruit juice contains simple carbs, which are digested quickly and go right into the bloodstream. After entering the bloodstream, any sugars not needed immediately for energy can go right into fat storage. Even without the HFCS, fructose is a simple carb, as I understand it. I also have heard, if you want fruit, you should just eat the fruit and not drink fruit juices.
Now, where this gets tricky is with different lifestyles. For sedentary folks with low muscle mass, I think this is good advice. However, if you are a stevedore or frame houses, etc., you are going to be in serious need of a steady stream of calories, so I can’t see a problem there with drinking fruit juice or a soft drink.
There the left wing goes again - blaming it on the juice!
Can we not rid ourselves of these damn nannies? Are we a nation of sissies? Are we a nation of stupid children?
Here’s a weight loss tip, get your fat butt off the couch and stop cramming food in your mouth!
You’d be amazed how well that works.
These idiots seem to have forgotten that these juices contain vitamin C and considerable potassium. Those of us on certain blood pressure medications need a daily glass of juice to prevent potassium depletion. What about our one most benevolent government whose guidelines say we need daily fruit...what would be the differences between eating an orange and drinking its juice with the pulp?
Food nazis on the march!
What? what the heck is that? and how do I get a job like that?
How much tax dollars fund this "appetite research" do you think?
for the record - It's less about what you eat and more about the dosage...
That’s it. I’m going to get a canister of Tang on the way home today.
Sitting on our butts is the problem. You can consume nothing but dry salad and water but if the couch is where you live your life you’ll get fat. HFCS might not be the healthiest thing on the planet, but in the end it’s just calories, burn em and be thin.
I used to live in a neighborhood that had been an orange orchard prior to development. So whatever trees were in the back yards, the builder left, so the house came with 4 mature orange trees the day it was sold. Incredible. We couldn’t eat and juice enough to use them all. Homemade OJ and Orange Julius straight from the blender — Yum!
They're trying out for the role of looter/moochers in this years live action rendition of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. You have to "need" something before they'll let you have it, but if you do "need" it, they'll take it from someone else at gunpoint to give it to you. What is this "want" you speak of?
B.T. Drill
Product Manager
Ma Chalmers Persimmon Ranch
Fruit juice or pancake syrup; its all sugar, and we don’t need it.
Nothing new here.
Pot and driving is just as bad as booze and driving.
No, HFCS is a major contributor to insulin insensitivity (AKA type II diabetes)
Exactly! One size fits all (but doesn’t fit any very well) Besides, we’ve gotten spoiled eating all this meat, drinking alcohol, and so on. We should be eating gruel to save that stuff for our bettors, and be GLAD we get the gruel/soybeans/persimmons.
Oh, and make sure you don’t let those persimmons rot in the orchards for want of transport.
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