Fruit and Vegetable Juice

While fruit and vegetable juices appear to be a good idea if one does not eat sufficient whole fruits and vegetables, there are a number of considerations that dampen this practice, especially if this becomes a daily ritual. 

Yes, there are some advantages to occasional use. Some nutrients that might otherwise be deficient would become available to build health. Plus, food juices might limit intake of sodas and other empty nutirtional high calorie drinks. Milk is a completely different arena. Long hearlded as a champion for bone strength, it has suddenly taken a tumbling fall from grace.

Here are some of the considerations with excess fruit and vegetable juices. First, juices concentrate some nutrients while eliminating others. A whole carrot has 10,000 units of vitamin A as beta carotene, while a glass of carrot juice can have up to 50,000 beta carotene or vitamin A equivalent units. Over 10,000 units of pre-formed vitamin A has proved to be problematic in supplements for a number of conditions: Liver damage, fetal genetic mutations, and bone fractures. Hopefully, beta carotene does not have have these conditions attached, but too much carrot juice can turn skin and the whites of the eyes orange. This is the body storing these carotenoids until the liver can recover and properly eliminate them.

THE UGLY EFFECTS OF GLYCATION

One food element that is also concentrated is sugar. Fruits and some vegetables have a lot of fructose. It was once assumed that since fructose was metabolized in the liver at a slower rate than the glucose sugar form, it would reduce the sugar influence overall. ref But, this is no longer the case. At least in animal studies, fructose is metabolized in the small intestines too. This changes everything. ref

Even natural sugars at excess levels create a number of obstacles to maintaining health. While diabetic rates are still increasing and have long been associated with higher sugar content diets, there is another sugar involved process that deserves mention here. Sugars in the body have two possible methods or pathways they can take. One is uncontrolled by enzymes and the other is controlled by enzymes. The enzyme required pathway is needed for energy production. It is the enzyme free process that can generate problems. This process is called gycation. 

Glycation happens when excess sugars unnaturally react with and fold proteins in undesirable ways. Sugar also can react with fats. These newly formed elements can create skin wrinkles and age or brown spots. But, many of the actions associated with glycation are inside the body where they cannot be seen until disease states manifest. These areas include vision, artery health, cognitive abilities, collagen breakdown, inflammation, and even tumors. Elements formed by glycation are called Advanced Glycation End products, or AGEs.  

AGEs in the body disrupt normal functions. ref There are ways to control or limit this process. 

• Cut down on dietary sugars
• Eat more low glycemic foods
• Eat whole fruits and vegetables to supply enough anti-oxidants
• Limit BBQ, frying, grilling, and broiling foods as this generates AGEs 
• Protect skin from UV sun rays
• Exercise to use up dietary sugars and increase oxygen content of cells
• Make sure B vitamins are sufficient, notably folic acid. 

Certain supplements also can prevent AGEs formation, namely Carnosine. ref

WHOLE FOODS VERSUS EXTRACT JUICES 

One nutrient that is completely eliminated by the extraction process to make juice, is fiber. One vital function of insoluble fibers is to interfere with and control or time release sugars getting from food into the blood stream. 

In juice, the sugars are rapidly released and this overwhelms the system. This spiking of blood sugar levels generates an over-response of the insulin process and disrupts many natural body systems. Eventually, this leads to a failure of the blood glucose insulin uptake into cell pathways, called insulin resistance. As a hormone, insulin can become problematic at uncontrolled levels.

Of Interest: Vitamin D directs bone building cells to produce the hormone osteocalcin. Osteocalcin has a number of functions. One is that when activated by vitamin K2, it binds calcium into bone crystals. Another function of interest here is that the two forms of osteocalcin, activated and nonactivated, both help control blood sugar levels by regulating glucose insulin uptake by cells. ref