Pros and Cons of Juicing

With the influx of health nuts and fitness junkies slamming back cold-pressed juices, you’d be hard-pressed not to think about juicing. But, is it healthy and beneficial enough to be storming the juice bar or cranking out your own concotion; or is it just a health fad?

Well, you already know that diets packed with fruits and vegetables reduce your risk for chronic conditions and diseases that can lead to an untimely death; but produce also plays a key roll in weight management. And odds are good you’re not getting the five servings a day recommended by the USDA. (In fact, CDC data shows only a third of US adults eat two-plus fruits, and about a quarter get three-plus veggies, daily. Yikes.) So to close up that gap, most experts agree that juicing can help pack more nutrients into your day. There’s some research (like this study in the journal Nutrition) that supports that recommendation as well.

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Still, it’s not as simple as chugging juice. Here’s what nutrition experts say you need to know.

1. Supplement, don’t cleanse. Nutritionists largely agree that juicing can offer a low-fat, nutrient-rich jolt of energy when added to already healthy, balanced diets—but as far as the cleanse-for-weight-loss meal replacement trend? Skip it. Juice digests quickly, and can cause the type of extreme hunger that leads to overeating and binging. “Drinking juice in lieu of eating food is not healthy or sustainable, no matter how nutrient-packed,” says Marjorie Nolan Cohn, RD, a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Juice cleanses (read: fasts) can also lead to unstable blood sugar, headaches, and lightheadedness. So, yeah, your workouts aren’t going to happen; or you’ll be so exhausted during them you won’t have the energy to keep up and can up your odds for injury.

2. Pick the right ingredients. Certain vitamins are more easily absorbed as juice, like vitamin C and Bs, while others, like vitamin A, E, K are best taken through the full digestion process, says Cohn. And some vegetables, such as tomatoes, actually provide more nutritional value when cooked, points out Kelly O’Connor, RD, LDN, a registered dietician at Baltimore-based Mercy Medical Center. Keeping all this in mind, these best bets that will maximize nutrition: leafy greens (spinach, collard greens, swiss chard, kale, mustard greens), kiwi, papaya, grapefruit, red bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, oranges, asparagus and garlic. Cherie Calbom, MS, CN, author of The Juice Lady’s Big Book of Juices & Green Smoothies also favors parsley, blood-pressure-lowering beets (combine with carrot or apple to enhance taste), inflammation-fighter ginger root, potassium-packed cucumbers, and antibacterial lemons. Avoid overly mushy or tender fruits, like bananas (if craving potassium, use half) and peaches, which can make your juice too thick and mushy, says Cohn.

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3. Find the perfect mix. Warning: Vegetable juice might not knock your socks off at first, so you’ve got to experiment. Plot how you’ll keep a variety of produce stocked, then have fun with it. Start with two cups of greens, which can taste bitter, balanced by one piece of fruit. Then, play around with the ratio, adding cayenne pepper or cinnamon for extra seasoning if desired. (Still not sure where to begin? We asked the experts for their favorite combos—grapefruit-orange-kale-cucumber for Cohn and carrot-apple-ginger for Calbom.)

4. Sip fast. Whipping up batches of liquid vitality for the week, or even day, isn’t most potent. “Guzzle that juice immediately,” says Cohn. “By changing the texture and integrity of fruits and vegetables from solid to liquid and removing protective skins, the foods quickly start to lose nutrients.”

The pros and cons of juicing for health

Juicing is often associated with “detoxing” or “cleansing,” whether for weight loss or wellness. According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, fruits and vegetables are associated with a reduced risk of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and certain types of cancers. However, few Americans meet the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake. Is juice a good way to improve intake? Do trendy cold-pressed juices really boost energy and cure disease? Which claims have merit, and what role can juice play in a healthy diet? We look at the pros and cons.

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Pro: Getting more produce. “Most people do not consume nearly enough fruit. A combination of whole fruit and 100 percent fruit juice is the most effective way to meet the fruit shortfall, without paying more,” says Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington. “For some people, 100 percent juice is the lower cost option for meeting nutrient requirements.”
Con: Lack of fiber. While drinking your fruits and vegetables is a convenient way to reach your daily produce goals, eating whole fruits and veggies, with their intact fiber, will likely leave you more satisfied. When you eat a piece of whole fruit, its intact fiber slows digestion of the natural sugars. When you drink juice, you get sugar without fiber to slow it down.

Pro: Better diet quality. Drinking 100 percent fruit juice is associated with improved diet quality in children and adults, particularly with making sure children, adolescents and teens get enough of key nutrients like vitamins A and C, potassium, folate and magnesium.
Con: Not all juices are equal. The term “juicing” refers to juice extraction from fruits and vegetables, but not all juices are created equal, and many are not 100 percent juice. Some are thinned or filtered, while juice “cocktails” or juice blends may contain one or more juices, with much of the sugar coming from added sugars. These types of juice don’t offer as much nutrition as 100 percent juice or whole fruits and vegetables.

Pro: Phytonutrient boost. Along with vitamins and minerals, juice may give you a phytonutrient boost. Phytonutrients are compounds made by plants that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or other benefits for health. A 2015 study in Nutrients found that even 1/2-cup of Concord grape juice per day provides enough polyphenols (a type of phytonutrient) to reduce several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure.

Con: It’s not “magic.” Even though phytonutrients may also support our immune system, juice isn’t a magic elixir for detoxing or boosting the immune system. The liver needs protein and adequate calories to transform toxins into a form that we can eliminate. Our intestines need fiber to speed that elimination. Also, our gut microbiota play a role in immunity, and those microbes feed on fiber.

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Juicing healthfully

Like to juice at home or visit your local juice bar? Here’s what you need to know:

Think supplemental. Use juicing to supplement your daily diet, not as your diet. Juice can be a great way to squeeze in additional vitamins and minerals, but it doesn’t have the fiber, protein, and fat that are also essential for health.

Keep calories in check. Juice may be full of nutrients, but it still contains calories. How many calories are in your juice? That depends on what’s in it, and the serving size. If you use vegetables in your juice blend, the calories will be lower than if you are drinking pure fruit juice.
Put vegetables first. When you juice fruit, you get all of the nutrients and all of the natural sugar, but none of the fiber, so the amount of sugar and calories per serving becomes more concentrated (more in a smaller amount). Juicing primarily vegetables like dark leafy greens, celery and cucumber, then adding a small amount of fruit, like apple or kiwi, or root vegetables (carrots or beets) for sweetness is the better way to go. A hint of lemon, lime, or ginger is a nice touch.

Don’t ditch the fiber. When you juice, you don’t get the fiber that’s in whole fruits and vegetables, because juicing machines extract the juice and leave behind the fiber-rich pulp. If you juice at home, you can stir some of the pulp back into the juice or use it in cooking. Try adding fruit pulp to muffin batter, or use vegetable pulp when making broth, pasta sauce or casseroles.

The bottom line

Although fruit juice can be part of a healthy eating pattern, it is lower than whole fruit in dietary fiber and when consumed in excess can contribute extra calories. Therefore, aim to get at least half of your fruit servings from whole fruits. When you choose juice, choose 100 percent juice, without added sugars. Suggested daily fruit intake is 1 1/2 cups for women, 2 for men. For vegetables it’s 2 to 2 1/2 cups for women and 2 1/2 to 3 cups for men.