Nutritional information of juices and data on their most important nutritional values of completely natural drinks. But to better enjoy its nutrients it is always to consume it fresh.
Although when it comes to enjoying the benefits of fruits, it always tends to be better to eat fresh fruits, since it is the most appropriate option so that it provides us with all the nutrients that our body needs without losing vitamins and minerals, natural juices they are an equally valid option.
However, it is necessary to bear in mind that although the juices can provide us with nutrients (almost the same as the whole fruit would provide us), it is essential that we make the juice once we have peeled and split the fruits, to prevent them from oxidizing and that their virtues are lost.
There is no doubt that they have a wide variety of advantages. For example, the main one is its ease of consumption, and we can take them with us and take them whenever we want.
Of course, natural juices are always a better and more appropriate option than packaged juices, since the first one becomes the best way to enjoy all their nutrients, since the key is to take them freshly made, so that we will enjoy of the main nutritional values of juices.
Nutritional contribution of the juice
What does a glass of juice usually bring? Here we summarize some of its most important elements:
- Low caloric intake.
- Carbohydrates: provide an immediate source of energy. But, as we will see in the next section, they stand out for their high sugar content.
- Vitamins: such as vitamin C (for example, a glass of orange juice provides between 80 and 100% of the daily needs of vitamin C in our body), vitamin B1 and folic acid.
- Minerals: they are especially rich in phosphorus and potassium, and low in sodium.
- Carotenoids: beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, stands out.
- Antioxidants: help reduce cell damage caused by free radicals.
- Polyphenols: such as flavonoids or phenolic acids.
- Dietary fiber: ideal to enjoy a good intestinal transit.
A Good Example: Nutrition Facts for Orange Juice
Although it is possible to enjoy a wide variety of fruit juices, the reality is that there is one of them that stands out precisely for being one of the most consumed: orange juice. To know what the nutritional contribution of fruit juices is, we have preferred to take this popular juice as an example.
1 glass of orange juice provides:
- Energy: 112 kcal.
- Carbohydrates: 25.8 gr.
- Of which sugars: 20.8 gr.
- Proteins: 1.7 gr.
- Fat: 0.5 gr.
- Fiber: 0.5 gr.
- Minerals: potassium (286 mg), magnesium (21.78 mg), calcium (21.56 mg), sodium (2 mg), selenium (2 mg), phosphorus (1.80 mg).
- Vitamins: vitamin A (5.16µg), B1 (0.14mg), B2 (0.03mg), B3 (0.55mg), B6 (0.10mg), B9 (37.26µg), vitamin C (78 mg).
To enjoy these main nutritional values, do not forget something fundamental: it is always better to take freshly made natural juices than packaged ones, which for the most part have already lost their main essential nutrients.
The main problem with juices: their high sugar content
As we already mentioned in a previous article, in which we talked to you about why it is better to eat whole oranges instead of juice, the main problem with fruit juices is their high sugar content.
But the problem is not only found in this. We find it fundamentally in that the fiber that we find in a whole piece of fruit is very useful to help our body so that the sugars naturally present in it are absorbed more slowly. But when we drink a fruit juice most of its fiber has been eliminated, so the sugars in the fruit are absorbed faster.
In addition, to prepare a fruit juice we need a greater amount of fruits, so together with the loss of fiber, we find a more obvious problem: we eat more fruit but in the form of sugars and with a lower amount of fiber
