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Cure-All Juices? Not so much.

I’ve had a few people offer me different juices that they suggest will at least improve my health and at best cure anything and everything. I’m skeptical of any product that promises a miracle cure. So I did a little research to explore the main nutrients of each of these berries. I think you will find this interesting – unless you sell any of these fruits!

Many of the juice companies boast that their juice has high antioxidant levels in scientific tests. The problem with testing these products is the companies often add potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate as a preservative. This greatly boosts the measured antioxidant level while greatly reducing the health benefits of the drink.

Superfruit juices may be good sources of antioxidants compared to, say, pizza or a doughnut; but if you want antioxidants, you’ll get far more of them for about 1/100th the price by simply eating common fruit from the supermarket.

Furthermore, the actual antioxidant level of a juice product varies greatly. The manufacturing process, heat exposure, and time all play a very important roll in the quality of a juice.

My advice – eat more whole, organic, local, fresh, ripe, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. If you want to drink a great juice, try slowly drinking orange juice. Most juices have a high glycemic index which causes its own problems.

For more reading, this is one of the better articles I’ve seen on the subject of superjuices.

http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105902&catId=100289&tid=100008

Acai berry
12-15 vitamins and minerals, 15-20 amino and fatty acids
High in a particular type of antioxidant (anthocyanin)
MonaVie’s vitamin C level was 5 times lower than that of Welch’s Grape Juice.

Goji berry (aka Wolfberry)
around 20 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, 12 fatty acids

Noni
20 vitamins and minerals with over 120 phytochemicals

Mangosteen
Low in vitamins and minerals
Has 40 of the known 200 xanthones which are anti-oxidants in the polyphenol family

Indian Gooseberry (aka Amalaki)
Vitamin C (125-475mg/oz)
Also contains Quercetin
Low in other vitamins and minerals

Orange Juice
17 vitamins/minerals, 18 amino acids, 20 carotinoids, over 150 phytochemicals
A medium orange has – 100mg Vitamin C, 75 mg calcium, 325 mg potassium, 3 gm fiber, and 12.5 mg omega III fatty acids