High in sugar and calories, health experts are finding more evidence that 100% fruit juice may cause weight gain.
In a recent systematic reviewTrusted Source and meta-analysis, researchers looked at 42 studies, which included 17 that focused on children and 25 on adults.
They discovered a link between consumption of 100% fruit juice and weight gain in children. For adults, they also found a positive association.
This comprehensive review is the first to evaluate 100% fruit juice consumption and body weight in children and adults using both prospective cohort studies (which follow large groups of people over time to assess relationships between exposures such as diet and lifestyle with health outcomes) and RCTs (which assign groups of people to an intervention or control and examine differences in outcomes between the group), Michelle Nguyen, lead author of the study, PhD Candidate at the Department of Nutritional Sciences Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, told Healthline. The use of both these study designs are critical to evaluate the totality of evidence.
Whether 100% fruit juice is a healthy beverage is a question of great interest from clinicians, the general public, parents and caregivers, and policy makers.
The evidence on 100% fruit juice and weight gain has yielded mixed findings from both observational studies (prospective cohort studies) and clinical trials, Nguyen explained.
Study findings indicate that 100% fruit juice consumption was associated with weight gain in children, especially among younger children. Among prospective cohort studies in adults, they found that 100% fruit juice was associated with weight gain among studies that did not account for intake of calories in their statistical analyses (unadjusted for calories), suggesting that excess calories play a role in this association.
Ultimately, these findings support public health guidance to limit the consumption of 100% fruit juice, especially in young children – to consume whole fruit rather than fruit juices. Our findings are in support of the AAP guidelines on 100% fruit juice consumption in children. We hope these findings will inform clinical practice guidelines and public health strategies to reduce overweight and obesity, Nguyen stated.
The reason for weight gain is mainly due to the high sugar content.
I find that most people have an easy time understanding how soda can lead to weight gain. But sometimes we forget how similar soda and fruit juice are, Dr. Nate Wood, physician at the Yale School of Medicine and culinary school graduate, stated. “Although fruit juice originally comes from a whole fruit (and we know whole fruits are healthy), soda is made in a factory. Otherwise, the two drinks are largely the same: they are both very sugary water.
