Edited on 1-31-06: Old article links is broken (thanks, CNN!), added new article link.
A common, mistaken belief is that fruit juice is better for you than soft drinks. Consider how many calories are stuffed into a 12 oz serving of each kind of drink:
| Drink | Calories |
| Coke Classic | 110 |
| Sprite | 110 |
| Dr Pepper | 136 |
| 100% pure orange juice | 168 |
| 100% pure grape juice | 231 |
| 100% pure apple Juice | 176 |
(Figures from http://www.nutritiondata.com/. Note that 12 oz is the size of a traditional can of soda.)
Fruit juices are packed with far more empty calories than soft drinks.
Some people justify fruit juices because they are supposedly full of vitamins. In fact, fruit juices’ vitamin concentration can be inferior to that of whole fruits. But suppose it isn’t inferior? Believe it or not, there is such a thing as “enough.” If you get “enough” vitamins, additional vitamins aren’t any help. Fruit juices are an unnecessary vitamin source because you can get more than “enough” vitamins from a reasonable diet.
Another common justification of fruit juices is that they are “natural.” Well, guess what, smarty pants? A calorie of fruit sugar makes you just as fat as a calorie of refined sugar.
Fruit juices are clearly not a healthy alternative to soft drinks unless your health goal is to maximize your waist size.
Except for the rare time that I give my toddler some juice, I haven’t regularly stocked any kind of fruit juice in my house in years. We just eat whole fruits. I already have a hard enough time controlling my weight without juices.
Recently Texas started reducing soft drink availability at schools. Unfortunately, Texas politicians still pretend that fruit juice is good for you, so fruit juice remains as available as ever.
Recent CNN article about fat preschoolers and fruit juice.
Newer CBS article about sweet drinks, including fruit juices, and flabby kids